


Kingdom Hearts: Video Game Edition

by NekoNikki



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Video Game Edition [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: I just want it off ffn given the shit that's happening, Other, Porting this stuff might give me motivation to get back to writing it idk, This was my first fanfic I'm finally porting it here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2019-08-06 08:23:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 65,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16384625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoNikki/pseuds/NekoNikki
Summary: Sora was an ordinary boy who dreamed of traveling the worlds with his friends Riku and Kairi, but when his islands are destroyed, he must travel alongside Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and the Pixl Tippi to find his missing friends and stop the evil villain known as Count Bleck. Video game novelization of the Kingdom Hearts series.





	1. Chapter 1

" _I've been having these weird thoughts lately…"_

" _Like is any of this for real or not?"_

A boy was on a beach. His eyes skimmed the area in the bright sunlight. He had to find his friends.

Another boy stood in the ocean. The boy's hand reached out to get him, but he couldn't reach before the tidal wave came. They were plunged underneath the water. He reached for the boy, but the water pushed him away back onto the shore.

A girl stood above him. She laughed at him and he smiled as she watched him stand up. A look of concern formed on her face and he looked up. He watched himself fall into the water and suddenly he fell back, plunging into the water much like his replica. The girl watched him fall, but neither could reach the other. He continued the plunge into the water, into the Darkness.

Suddenly, there was light. Birds flew around him, surrounded him as they flew off the ground and into the Darkness. Below him was a stained glass platform. The glass was a deep pink with girl on it. The girl, surrounded by a heart, was a blonde in a pink dress. A small golden crown rested on her forehead, and a blue gem sat on her chest. White gloves covered her hands and lower arms.

" _So much to do, so little time…Take your time. Don't be afraid. The door is still shut."_  A voice seemed to come from nowhere. He looked around anxiously in search of a source, but as expected, he was unable to place its location.

" _Now, step forward,"_  the voice said.  _"Can you do it?"_

He slowly walked towards the center of the stained glass. His eyes were wary of the new surroundings. He had no idea where he was. All he wanted was his friends. They had to be somewhere. In time with the voices phrase, three platforms arose from the glass with weapons surrounding them.  _"Power sleeps within you…If you give it form…It will give you strength."_

" _Choose well."_

He examined the three weapons. The first was a silver sword. The hilt connected to it was gold with a red hand guard. On a green gem between the hand guard and the gold connecting to the blade was a red mushroom with two eyes. The second weapon was a black shield with red borders. The same mushroom rested within the center of the shield. The final weapon was a staff with a green and gold handle. On the top was another of the mushrooms. He walked over to the sword.

" _The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?"_  He shook his head to the question. An ultimate power for destruction wasn't his goal at all. The sword returned to the pedestal, and he looked towards the other two. He decided to look at the shield next.

" _The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is the power you seek?"_  He nodded. His friends meant a lot to him, and a power to protect them sounded pretty good. The shield disappeared.

" _Your path is set. Now what will you give up in exchange?"_  He looked over the final two weapons and walked over to the staff.

" _The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You give up this power."_ He nodded again.

" _You've chosen the power of the guardian. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?"_  He nodded a final time. The three pedestals fell into darkness just before the stained glass shattered. He found himself on another platform. This one had another girl. The girl wore a golden dress in a similar style to the earlier blonde and dark brown hair. She too had on white gloves over her arms. The glass itself was golden, and a flower surrounded her.

" _You gained the power to fight,"_  the voice said. The shield reappeared in his hands, unfortunately, some enemies also appeared. The enemies were a pitch black with glowing yellow eyes. They had two black antennae emerging from their heads. He hit one with his shield, and it vanished in a puff of black smoke.  _"All right! You've got it. Use this power to protect yourself and others. There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong."_  He swung the shield at another foe, and then another, bashing at them to beat each of the foes slowly and methodically beat each of the foes.

" _Behind you!"_  It was shouted in warning. He turned around and hit the enemy behind him. His shield destroyed it quickly. Afterwards, he turned back to the remaining foes until the enemies were all gone from the platform. A pool of darkness formed beneath his feet, sucking him down off the platform.

Now the platform was red. Instead of a girl, there were three silhouettes surrounded by hearts. The new platform had a door on it, but that was all. He walked towards the door and pulled on the handles. "It won't open…" he said. The voice didn't answer him. Assuming it would talk again when ready, he looked around the platform only to see a chest appear. He walked over and opened the chest to find a glowing green liquid. He picked it up and pocketed it. As there was nothing else of interest, he opened the door only for a bright light to flash.

When the light faded, he was back on his island and surrounded by three friends of his, two boys and one girl.  _"Hold on the door won't open just yet. First, tell me about yourself."_

Without much of a choice, he walked over to the first of his friends, a dark skinned male with dark orange hair. "Hey Wakka," he said.

"What do you want outta life?" Wakka asked.

"Huh?"

"What do you want outta life," Wakka repeated. The boy acted as though he'd never spoke.

"To broaden my horizons…I guess…" he said.

"To broaden your horizons, huh?" Wakka asked.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked. He received no further response. He walked over to the lone female of the group, a girl with light brown hair and green eyes.

"What's most important to you?" the girl asked.

"Oh no! Not you too!" he said in shock.

"What's most important to you?" she repeated.

After a moment, he decided on his answer, "Friendship."

"Is friendship really such a big deal?" Assuming she wouldn't answer further, much like Wakka, he walked to the final boy, a blonde with blue eyes.

"What are you afraid of?" the boy asked.

"Being indecisive," he answered.

"Being indecisive? Is that really so scary?" the boy asked.

" _You want to broaden your horizons. You value your friendship. You're afraid of being indecisive,"_  the voice quickly recapped his earlier decisions.  _"Your adventure begins in the dead of night. Your road won't be easy, but a rising sun awaits your journey's end."_

"Sounds good," he said. He had to wonder if the journey going to be that hard in the future. He could still only wonder what the voice was talking about.

" _The day you will open the door is both far off and very near…"_

The islands around him vanished. He was now on a new platform, one with a picture of a girl in a light blue dress this time. The girl had pale blonde hair going over one eye and a rod with a star in her hand. A silver crown rested on top of her head and a little star creature was nearby her, appearing to bounce around with glee. More of the enemies appeared. He summoned his shield once more and began bashing them in as quickly as possible. One after the other, the creatures fell to his shield until none remained. A set of stained glass stairs appeared. He walked up them, one by one, each step vanishing as he moved forward.

The stairs lead to another stained glass platform. This one was a light purple with the image of two girls. The first had long pink hair and brown eyes. The girl wore a brown fuzzy vest that cut off around her green tank top and shorts. The second had short brown hair and glasses. She wore a green top and black skirt. In both of their hands was a black cat plushie.  _"The closer you get to the light the greater your shadow becomes."_

He turned around at what the voice said. His shadow was huge, which he assumed to mean he was close to the end of the journey. The shadow rose seconds later. It was alive, thoroughly startling him. It wasn't long before it grew even larger, now a large black creature of some form. The creature had two giant fists and feet and a mass of tangle on its head that could be deemed hair. In the chest cavity of the creature was a large heart shaped hole. "Wh-what?" He tried to run away from the large shadow to the stair case, but it was gone, just a large black chasm remained.

" _But don't be afraid. And don't forget…"_  He had no choice. He turned to face the large monster. His shield hit the creature's hand. It hardly seemed to notice the damage. The monster punched the ground where he stood and summoned a pool of darkness where two of the earlier enemies emerged from the ground. He bashed the creature's hand on the ground as well as the two little enemies. Its hand emerged from the ground, and it began to fire dark sphere like projectiles at the boy. He blocked the projectiles with his shield, but some hit him and some bounced off. The ones that bounced off hit the monster in the head and seemed to deal more damage to it. He made note of its weak point before beginning to hit the creature once more on its hands as it punched the ground, this time creating a shock wave that he had to jump over to take out. As he went to hit it with his shield once more, the weapon vanished. He tried to call it back to his hands, but with no luck. The creature punched the floor once more, generating the pool of darkness.

This time, he was unable to escape. The tendrils of darkness managed to start dragging his body down. He panicked, wildly flailing to escape.  _"But don't be afraid."_  He couldn't help his panic. The voice wasn't the one drowning in darkness.

" _You hold the mightiest weapon of all."_  He didn't understand. Was the voice talking about something else or the shield? If his "mightiest weapon" vanished and appeared whenever it chose, it would be a rough battle, just as the voice predicted. His head was covered by the darkness now, drowning out all his vision quickly.

" _So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door."_


	2. Chapter 2

Deep among the ocean was a small group islands. The first and largest of these islands was a town where many worked and ran. The second island was a playground for many of the kids ran around on the sandy beach. The third island was small, and only held a single palm tree with a yellow star shaped fruit. It is on this second island, a boy slept, his sleep disturbed by strange dreams.

The boy woke up not moments later. He yawned as he briefly opened his blue eyes. He laid down seconds later, his brown, spiky, hair hitting the floor with a plan to fall back asleep and closed his eyes, relaxing on the beach. When he opened his eyes, a girl stood above him. The girl had dark red hair and purple eyes. The boy pushed himself off the ground in shock, narrowly avoiding her head. "Woah!" The girl laughed. "Give me a break Kairi!"

"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing down here," she said. A smile lit up her face as she watched him gather his thoughts for a moment.

"No! This huge black thing swallowed me up!" he said, his voice was panicked as he remembered the suffocating feeling of being drowned in the Darkness after he lost to the strange shadowy monster. "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't-Ow!" He stopped as Kairi flicked him lightly in the head to get his attention.

"Are you still dreaming?"

"It wasn't a dream! Or was it?" Sora sighed. The more he thought about it, the less real it seemed. "I don't know…what was that place? So bizarre."

She laughed, instantly dismissing his strange dream as just that. "Yeah sure."

"Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like?" Sora asked. "You know, where you grew up."

"I've told you before, I don't remember." Kairi was a bit unusual in terms of the residents of the islands, as she wasn't born there nor did she remember where she was from. When she was younger, a lot of the kids were interested in the mystery, but as they got older, she became more of an accepted part of the island and with the exception of a few close friends, not very many people remained interested in this mystery town she once lived in.

"Nothing at all?" He hoped asking her again might prompt a memory. Whether she would ever admit to it or not, Sora could tell Kairi was slightly bothered by the fact that she knew nothing of who she was before the islands, especially about her birth family.

"Nothing," she said.

"You ever want to go back?" Sora asked.

Kairi seemed to pause for a moment before answering. "Well, I'm happy here." 

"Really…" He was disappointed. Helping Kairi find her home was one of the excuses they told their parents for their great adventure they were planning. If Kairi had no interest, he doubted he'd be able to get away with it forever.

"But you know…I wouldn't mind going to see it," she said as though she sensed his disappointment. He perked up.

"I'd like to see it too," Sora said. "Along with any other worlds out there! I'd like to see 'em all!"

"So what are we waiting for?" she asked. It was definitely a journey they were both excited for.

"Aren't you guys forgetting about me?" A boy walked up to the two, this one with silver hair. His light blue eyes were amused even though his voice feigned hurt. He walked by and tossed the log at Sora, knocking him back to the ground. "And you're just as lazy as he is." He pointed to Kairi.

She giggled. "So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together. I'll race you!"

"Huh?" Sora looked at her in confusion.

"What, are you kidding?" the other boy asked.

"Ready! Go!" she shouted and the boys both leapt up at her call. Their longer legs allowed them to cover the distance faster, but it still wasn't all that long until they arrived at the other side of the island where a bunch of logs sat. The boy went over to the logs while Sora stood in front of Kairi.

"So, can you gather the rest of the supplies?" Kairi asked. She noticed Sora's lack of response and snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Huh, what?" he looked at Kairi in surprise. She sighed.

"Sora, were you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, I heard you," he said.

"Okay, here's what you need to find: two logs, one cloth, and one rope," she listed each other materials off one by one. "Bring everything back here. If you need any help, just ask. I'm counting on you."

"Okay, see you Kairi." Sora ran off from the shack and started walking towards the cove area of the island.

"Hey Sora!" a girl with light brown hair in a yellow dress walked up to him.

"Hey Selphie, what's going on?" he asked.

"Not a lot. Hey, wanna spar?" Selphie asked.

"Can't, I've gotta find supplies for the raft, Kairi's orders." He smiled.

"Aw, your no fun," Selphie pouted, "but okay. If you need any rope, I think Tidus has some up in the tree house."

"See you Selph!" He continued on his way up a ladder and into a wooden platform. A blond boy was there practicing with a wooden sword.

"Hey Sora! Bet you can't beat me this time!" the boy said as he noticed Sora's entry.

"Kairi sent me looking for supplies, and I was told some rope would be here," Sora said.

"I do have some! Tell you what, beat me and I'll give it to you!" the boy, presumably Tidus, said.

"You're on!" Sora jumped down the ladder and onto the ground, followed by the boy and they walked onto the sand of the beach. Off to the side, Selphie, another boy, and the silver haired boy stood watching the battle.

Tidus started off by slashing at Sora with a wooden sword. Sora lifted up his own in defense before knocking Tidus back and using a quick strike of his own to knock him back further. Tidus charged at him again, but rather than hitting him he ran past him to behind Sora, where he hit him with the sword. Sora turned around with his own sword and once more gave a quick slash and hit Tidus again. He threw the sword a final time, knocking Tidus off his feet and onto the ground.

_The sword is definitely better than the shield,_  Sora thought as he offered his hand to Tidus. Tidus grabbed his hand and smiled.

"Thought I'd get you this time, here's your rope." Tidus climbed up back into the tree house after handing Sora the rope.

He looked around the island for a couple more minutes before walking over to the other side where a couple of logs were strangely lying around. He walked over to the shore and picked up a piece of cloth with hope it was big enough for what Kairi wanted.

"Hey Sora!" the silver haired boy called him from the smallest island, leaning back against a palm tree.

"Riku!" Sora waved and ran over quickly. "What are you doing?"

"I finished most of the raft, so I figured I'd take a break," he said. "Since you appear to be done, I figured you could use the challenge."

"I'll win this time!" Sora and Riku had been competing against each other for as long as they'd known each other, and they were always rivals. Sora was currently three down to Riku's wins.

"We'll see." Riku picked up a wooden sword from the ground before getting off the Paopu tree. He lifted up his sword so it was raised above his head and charged. Unlike with Tidus, Sora barely had enough time to life his sword up to guard against the attack. He found himself pushed back several inches before Riku finally relented in the strike, giving Sora time to retaliate. Riku blocked his strike with a move that had very little effort and pushed back on Sora. Sora ran up again, this time managing to hit Riku.

Riku wasn't even knocked off balance however, as he lunged at Sora, unconcerned with the strike that had just hit him. Sora lifted up his sword again, however was pushed back even further near the edge of the island. Sora rolled out of the way of another strike that was aimed at him, causing Riku to nearly fall in the water.

"Nice trick," Riku said with a smile. Sora hadn't meant to trick him, but smiled back considering it meant he had a chance. He charged against Riku one last time, this strike actually putting him in the ocean. "Okay! I surrender!" Although his tone remained cheerful, his eyes darkened.

"Yeah! I win!" Sora cheered.

"Good job Sora!" Somewhere in the middle of the fight, Kairi had walked over to them to watch. "Did you finish gathering supplies like I asked?"

"Yup!" Sora pulled out each of the items.

"Thanks Sora! We'll finish up the raft tomorrow," she said and looked to Riku. "You did good too Riku."

"He only got lucky," Riku said before leaning back against the tree. Kairi's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion, but she didn't comment.

"Well, since we found everything and we don't have to go back until dark, we should watch the sunset here tonight!" Kairi jumped onto the tree.

"Sounds great," Sora said before jumping onto the tree as well.

"Are you two going to actually help with construction tomorrow or am I going to be left alone to do that too?" Riku asked.

"We'll help!"

"Yeah, we all want to see the other worlds, especially Kairi's!" Sora said before looking at Riku and Kairi. "Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?"

"Could be, we'll never know by staying here," Riku said.

"But how far could a raft take us?" Sora asked.

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else," Riku said.

"So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asked. Her answer was obvious, at least to Sora, she had to find her lost family and learn about her home world. He wanted to explore everywhere, but that never really explained why Riku wanted to go.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it," Riku said. "It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?

Sora lay down on the tree. "I don't know."

"That's why we need to go out there!" Riku's voice grew determined. "Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff! So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot, haven't you?" Kairi asked. She seemed almost saddened by Riku's statement.

"Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of this," he said and smiled at her. "Kairi, thanks."

"You're welcome," she said. "It's going to be dark soon. We should head back."

"I guess…" Sora said. Kairi jumped off the tree first to head back to the docks. Sora went to follow her example, but was stopped by Riku.

"Sora," he said. A star shaped yellow fruit was tossed in his direction. "You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A paopu fruit…" he looked at it in confusion.

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll be a part of each other's lives no matter what." Riku repeated the legend that was famous among the islanders about the star shaped fruit. "C'mon, I know you want to try it."

"What are you talking-" Sora stopped as Riku walked by and laughed. He looked at the fruit for another moment, briefly thinking of Kairi before tossing it away. It was possible he had feelings for Kairi that went beyond friendship, but he hadn't actually thought of sharing the paopu fruit with her before.

* * *

In another world different than the one our protagonist lives on, a man wearing green with overalls was walking back to his house after a successful trip to the nearby town. "Big bro! I'm back!" The man shouted. "Still no news on the missing princesses, but-" he paused as on the table was a note addressed to Luigi. He picked up the note. "Off on some adventure without me aga-" he stopped as he read the contents before panicking.

"Princess! Princess!" He ran through the streets of the nearby town. He didn't pay attention to any of the mushroom residents and ran straight up to the castle at the head. As though by habit, he ran straight into the throne room.

"Luigi?" A woman dressed in pink stood up from her throne. Her blue eyes shone with worry over the man.

"Princess! It's horrible! Mario's gone!" Luigi said.

"Does that mean he found out where Daisy and Rosalina disappeared off to?" the princess asked.

"No I mean he's gone as in left the Mushroom Kingdom!" Luigi explained and handed her the letter. "Come on, we've got to go before-"

"Gwar har har! Mario, missing? I can't believe my luck that I chose today to capture Princess Peach!" A giant turtle entered the room through the front.

"No way! Just cause my bro isn't around doesn't mean you can capture the princess!" Luigi jumped in front of her.

"Hang on Luigi, Bowser might be able to help us," Peach said. "You will help us, especially since I plan on going to find Mario."

"Why would I help with that?" Bowser growled at her.

"Because the mission Mario left for will require your help and mine," Peach said. "Otherwise none of us could be around for much longer."

"But-"

"At least hear us out, please, for me?" Peach asked.

"Fine, but only because you asked," Bowser grumbled and sat on the floor of the throne room to listen to what the princess had to say.


	3. Chapter 3

"Finally, done!" Sora fell back on the ground as they attached the last of the logs to the raft.

"It looks pretty good," Riku said as he admired their work on the raft.

"Now all that's left is to name it," Kairi said with a smile. "I'd like to name it Starlight!"

"Aw, come on Kairi! You're in charge of the building process and barely did any work! We should get to name it," Sora said and pouted. Kairi relented.

"Alright, fine, what do you want to name it then?" she asked.

"I was thinking Highwind, what about you Sora?" Riku asked.

"Hmm," Sora thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head. "Kingdom Key."  _Where did that come from?_

"I like mine better," Riku said.

"Mine's better!" Sora frowned.

"We'll race for it then," Riku said.

"I'll referee," Kairi said and stood off to the side. "First one to navigate the obstacle course, touch the star, and make it back here wins."

"If I win, I get to be captain," Sora said. "And if you win…"

"I get to share a paopu with Kairi," Riku said.

Sora stared at him in confusion as though the words didn't process. "Huh?"

"Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi," Riku said.

"Wha… Wait a minute…" Sora could only stare at Riku in shock. He couldn't lose this race now if he ever wanted to share one with Kairi. He then looked over to Kairi. If she heard the conversation, she had chosen to ignore it.

"Okay, on my count: 3…2…1…Go!" she shouted. Sora and Riku bolted off immediately. Sora hit the first platform with a slight lead. He jumped across each one until he arrived at a small rock ledge, where a zip line reached down to the other side. His hand grasped the zip line and he looked behind him at Riku, who had just arrived at the top of the rock. He quickly threw it back (it wouldn't be fair if he had an advantage Riku didn't) before touching the tree and sprinting back along the beach to wear Kairi stood. He arrived, triumphant, out of breath, captain of the newly named Kingdom Key, and ready to share the paopu that he hadn't really thought about sharing.

"Sora wins!" Kairi shouted just as Riku walked up. He was only one down now. Their next match would be the one that would make them even.

"Good job," Riku said. "I was just joking by the way, you didn't have to freak out like that."

"Well whatever you were joking about, quit it, because we need to collect provisions for the trip!" Kairi said. "Riku, I want you to find sea gull eggs, coconuts, and fish. Sora, you need to get us some fresh water and mushrooms." She handed Sora an empty jar.

"How much?" Riku asked.

"However many you two think we'll need to survive until we hit the first world," Kairi said. "Now go!"

"Okay," Sora walked away from Kairi and off toward the cliff side of the island where a small waterfall ran off. He pulled out the jar and ran it underneath the waterfall so as to collect the fresh water they would need. Nearby was a small cave. Remembering the fact that mushrooms tended to grow in the dark, he entered the cave to find the cavern that lay behind.

"Oh yeah!" he said," the Secret Place." He began walking around the cave and looking at all the drawings. In the corner, by where he found some mushrooms, he locked eyes on the picture.

" _Come on Sora, I'll draw you and you draw me! Okay?"_

" _But I can't draw Kairi!"_

" _I can't either, but it'll still be fun."_

He picked up a stone, long forgotten in the corner as they had stopped carving pictures in the cave long ago, and carved an arm next to his face. The arm reached out toward the Kairi face and offered her a star to represent the paopu fruit. He smiled at it, maybe he did want to share one with Kairi after all. He heard footsteps.

"Wh-Who's there?" He turned around to see a brown cloaked figure.

"I've come to see the door to this world," the figure said.

"Huh?"

"This world has been connected."

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Sora asked again.

"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed." The figure continued to ignore Sora and his questions.

"Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this," Sora said. To him, it sounded like the figure was saying that his home, the islands, were about to be destroyed. He didn't want that. "Huh? Wh-Where did you come from?"

"You do not yet know what lies behind this door."

"So, you're from another world?" Sora asked. He felt an edge of excitement creep into his voice. Even though he was being warned his home was being destroyed, this person might know the fate of Kairi's homeworld.

"There is so much to learn. You understand so little."

"Oh yeah?" Sora gaped at the figure. "Well, you'll see! I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there."

"A meaningless effort," the figure said. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing." The figure vanished, leaving Sora confused.

"What just happened?" he asked aloud. This definitely added onto the weirdness of the past couple of days, so he simply left the cave with the mushrooms in hand and went back to the other side of the island where Kairi stood waiting. She was moving string through shells while she stood.

"Hey Kairi, what's that?" Sora asked. He looked at the charm with curiosity. She jumped in surprise.

"Oh, this? I'm working on a necklace made of thalassa shells. In the old days sailors always wore thalassa shells. They were supposed to ensure safe voyage," she said. Her face had turned slightly red as though she hadn't wanted Sora to see it.

"I think that's pretty awesome!" Sora said with a smile. "Anyways, I got the last of the stuff."

"Really, that's great!" Kairi smiled. "Riku finished up his collecting and went home already, so do you want to watch the sunset, just the two of us?"

Now it was Sora's turn to blush. "Uh…sure!"

"Okay, just give me a few minutes to gather up the last of the shells I'll need for my necklace and we can go to the docks to watch it!" Kairi ran towards the shore of the beach while Sora went to the dock. He watched her sit down, deep in concentration, and pick up a couple more shells to thread onto the charm. When she was finished, she walked over to Sora and sat down next to him.

"So you've finished?" Sora asked.

"Not quite yet, but it's close enough where I'll have it finished by tomorrow," she said. They sat in silence for a while. He noticed the unhappy look on her face and sighed.

"Kairi, what's wrong?" he asked. Was it possible she'd heard his earlier conversation with Riku or the cloaked figure and it was bothering her?

"You know, Riku has changed," she said slowly. It was like she was trying to pick just the right words so that way Sora wouldn't be upset.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well…" she started, but couldn't seem to figure out what she wanted to say.

"You okay?"

"Sora, let's take the raft and go- just the two of us." This was drastically out of character for Kairi. It just didn't make sense that she wouldn't want Riku to join them.

"Huh?" He stared at her in shock.

"Just kidding," she laughed, and he started to laugh as well.

"What's gotten into you? You're the one that's changed, Kairi," he said. She stood up and his gaze followed her movement.

"Maybe…you know, I was a little afraid to go at first, but now I'm ready," she said. Sora looked at her in surprise. She'd never seemed to not want to go or seemed scared. The fact that she had been made him slightly worried. "No matter where I go or what I see, I can always come back here. Right?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, of course!" his voice sounded slightly too excited, even for who he was. Maybe the cloaked figure from earlier was just making him nervous.

"That's good, Sora. Don't ever change," she said.

"Huh?"

"I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great."

* * *

"To Luigi,

Sorry I left, but I heard rumors about what might have happened to Daisy and Rosalina. I heard they were kidnapped by a madman who wants to destroy the worlds. I don't know much about him yet, but I'm going to find out. Let Peach know that I'm gone and apologize that I didn't tell her where I would be going, but I have to take this chance now. I'll send more word when I find out, but in the meantime, keep her safe and get word out to Bowser, he might be able to help us out.

Your bro, Mario," Luigi read the letter to Bowser as quickly as possible.

"See Bowser, that's why you have to help," Peach said.

"But…I don't wanna help!" Bowser complained. "There's no way I'll ever help out Mario."

"But Bowser, if you don't there won't be any place left where you can rule and I'll be gone," Peach said.

"No!" Bowser insisted.

"Come on, you'll get to spend more time with the princess if you do," Luigi said to bribe the Koopa King.

"What?" Bowser glanced at Peach and growled. "Alright, but just so I can spend more time with Peach."

"Good, now we need to-"

"Excuse me…I'm looking for a Princess Peach, Luigi, and King Bowser," a small rainbow butterfly flew into the room in front of the three.

"That would be us," Luigi said.

"Excellent. My name is Tippi, and Mario sent me," Tippi said.

"What did he say?" Peach asked.

"You three are supposed to head to a world called Traverse Town to look for a key," Tippi said. "He will be the one to fulfill the prophecy within the Light Prognosticus. A man called Leon is supposed to be able to help."

"Back up, what's going on?" Peach asked.

"Mario came to visit Merlon in search of advice. Mario then proceeded to ask Merlon about what's happening, who then lent him me after supplying the answers to help you three and the key," Tippi said. "I'm a Pixl, one of few fairy like creatures with unique abilities, in my case, I know everything about everything."

"So what's this Light Pragmatics thingy then?" Bowser asked.

"It's Prognosticus, but I digress," Tippi said. "It's an ancient book of prophecies that was created to prevent the prophecies its sister book predicts from occurring. The Dark Prognosticus predicts the end of the universe many times over. Unfortunately the light one is very vague, so we don't know who this key is and anything about the threats to the worlds besides their name, the Heartless."

Peach looked at Tippi for a moment in thought. "So you'll be coming with us Miss Tippi?"

"Until the worlds are safe, yes, then I'll be returning back to Merlon," Tippi said. "I'll be chronicling everything that happens along our journey for the future as well. It was Merlon's idea."

"Then come on, let's go to the Toad brigade's ship already and get going!" Luigi said.

"I'll call Captain Toad, it should be ready in about ten minutes," Peach said.


	4. Chapter 4

Sora lay awake in his room after watching the sunset with Kairi. He couldn't shake the conversation out of his mind. Why would she want to leave Riku behind, out of all of them, he was the most excited, so why would she even mention it.

" _You know, Riku has changed."_

" _Sora, don't ever change."_

" _I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great."_

"Hopefully tomorrow, she'll see that nothing's changed about Riku and we'll on enjoy the adventure!" Sora leaned back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Thunder rumbled outside and he ran over to his window to look outside. Lightning flashed from menacing clouds over the islands. "A storm?" a storm meant wind and strong waves. "Oh, no, the raft!" He jumped out the window as soon as he could. He needed to secure the raft as quickly as possible to make sure it would stay on the island. Behind him, he heard his mother call for him. He'd explain where he was as soon as he came back from securing the raft. As quickly as he could he reached his small row boat and rowed out to the smaller island across the way.

_I just hope the raft's safe,_  Sora thought. He arrived on the island and looked at the docks to see two other similarly sized boats.

"What's that?" His eyes widened. "Riku's boat. And Kairi's!" he said. Panic began to creep into him, that meant both his friends were here and possibly securing the raft, but what if something happened to them. He started to head towards where they planned on keeping the raft to find some black shadows appearing out of the ground. They were small creatures with antennae popping out of their heads. The only feature on them that wasn't black was their two yellow eyes.

"The creatures from my dream!" He pulled out his wooden sword and raised it just in time to block their claws from hitting him. He slashed through it only for his sword to go right through, doing no damage whatsoever. "I've gotta find Riku and Kairi!" He ran around to the small paopu island where Riku normally hid out. His friend was standing there, his back turned to Sora.

"Riku!" he shouted. Riku didn't turn around. "Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!"

"The door has been opened…" the response made little sense to Sora. It didn't reveal the location of the young red haired girl or anything of real importance. In fact, it reminded him of the cloaked figure from the secret place and of his dream. Was the door Riku talking about the same one he would open?

"What?"

"The door is open, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku said. Sora looked at him in confusion. The raft was their way to the outside world, not this door.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked. "We've gotta find Kairi!"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku shouted back. "Once we step through we may never be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this is our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" He reached his hand out to Sora.

"Riku!" Sora reached for Riku as tendrils of darkness began swarming around Sora and Riku, trying to drown them both in it. It was just like his dream, and nobody was able to save him, just like in his dream, he would die, except there was no waking up from this, it was real.

A bright light flashed in his hand, removing the darkness from Sora, but Riku was gone. A new weapon was in his hand, this one shaped oddly like a key. The key was silver at its blade; the teeth looked like a crown as it connected to a gold hilt with a red handle in the center where his hand was. Hanging off the edge attached to a chain was a small red mushroom with eyes and white circles at the top, similar to the mushroom that emblazoned the weapons in his dream. His eyes looked over the new weapon with wonder.

" _Keyblade…Keyblade…"_ A mysterious voice answered the unasked question of what the weapon was. It was much like the one from his dream that guided him. He looked at the Keyblade one more time before turning around to face the creatures behind him. They had started sneaking up behind him while he'd been distracted. His Keyblade went through one with ease, turning it into a cloud of darkness within three hits.

He started slashing through the shadows as quickly as possible with a goal of finding Kairi. She had to be somewhere on the islands, it wasn't possible for her to just simply disappear and if he couldn't find her, then those creatures might have killed her. It wasn't long before he arrived at the last place to check, the small cave behind the waterfall. The cave's opening however, was now a large white door rather than an open mouth. Something was happening to his island, something bad. He opened the door and ran through the cave as quickly as possible to find Kairi. She was in there, but her skin was pale as she sat in front of the door that was unable to be opened, probably the door both Riku and the figure had mentioned.

"Kairi!" he shouted.

"Sora…" a gust came out of the door, knocking her into him. As he went to catch her, she vanished in his arms. The dark wind continued to push him back until he was forced out of the cave. He watched as the cave itself disappeared. He looked up to see a strange dark ball in the sky in shades of purple and black. It appeared to be sucking up the islands around him, as all that appeared to be left to his home was the small platform of sand he was standing on.

"Kairi!" he called out her name in hopes that she'd simply been blown out of the cave. The only response he got was a large black giant shadow with a heart shaped hole around its chest. It was the giant from his dream, and now it was taking out his home rather than some strange stained glass platform with a girl on it. The Keyblade appeared back in his hand as thought summoned by magic and he ran towards it, hitting its hand like last time as it punched the ground to generate more of the shadows from earlier. The Keyblade did more damage than his shield did, or at least he thought it did since the monster lifted its hand from the ground much quicker only managing to generate one shadow before stopping its creation of the dark pool.

He slashed out at the shadow quickly to take it out. He rolled out of the way as the giant through another punch at him. While he avoided the giant's fist, he was not fortunate enough to avoid the shockwave that came afterwards, which knocked him back towards the edge of the small piece of island left. He started to run after the giant only to begin being pelted by energy balls of darkness. He remembered how his shield in the dream would allow the hit to return to him, so he lifted up his Keyblade to avoid the strike and rebound them towards its face. After a few successful returns (and some not so successful ones) the giant stopped striking him with the energy bullets and this time punched the ground again. This time, Sora was ready for the coming shockwave and jumped out of the way to avoid the energy that sent him back. He ran up to the giant as it was recuperating and began striking at it.

He began ignoring the giant's move, only stopping his attacks when it was necessary to prevent being hit or when he had to lift up his Keyblade to hit the giant in the face, which did more damage to it than just hitting at its hand like he was doing. After one final strike, the creature lost its hold on the island of sand and began floating away.

"I…did it!" he cheered before leaning on his knee. The suction from the sphere above his head was stronger than he expected, and it wasn't long before he was taken off the ground and pulled away from his island to watch as the last of it disappeared from sight.

" _No…"_

* * *

 

"Hey Tippi, what's the consequence for not defeating the Heartless?" Peach asked. The four plus Pixl had just arrived in a new world.

"They devour all hearts, princess. A world can't survive without a heart because it's the source of the light, and as such, the world ceases to exist," Tippi said. "We can see this as a star going out in the sky."

"I see…" Peach nodded. She felt anything else she was about to say die in her throat as Luigi tapped her on the shoulder.

"Princess!" he said. His finger pointed up to the sky, where one of the bright points in the night sky was flashing into darkness.

"That stars going out," Tippi said.

"We have to help!" Peach said. "If we hurry-"

"There's nothing you can do. We won't be able to reach it in time." Tippi's voice was saddened by the fact, but she said it nonetheless. "The only thing we can do is try to bring it back by defeating the Heartless."

"But-"

"You heard the butterfly Peach! The world's gone, so stop worrying about it," Bowser said.

"All those people…we have to help Mario stop this!" Peach looked away as the star gave one last weak pulse of light before it stopped shining all together.

"We will, the sooner we find Leon, the sooner we can complete the mission," Luigi said.

"You're looking for Leon?" A woman in a pink dress with brown hair walked up to them. Her hair was braided and held back by two red ribbons.

"Mario sent us," Tippi said.

"Of course, follow me," the woman said. "We've all been waiting for you for a long time."


	5. Chapter 5

When Sora awoke he was no longer under the stormy sky of the island, rather a starry night sky within an alley way surrounded by light brown buildings and pavement beneath him.

"What a dream…" he said before closing his eye to go back to sleep. All of a sudden it hit him. He bolted onto his two feet in surprise. "This isn't a dream!" He ran out of the alley in complete and utter shock. His eyes skimmed the foreign buildings and signs of the area. "Where am I? Kairi! Riku!" Neither of his friends answered his call. "Am I in another world?" he wondered aloud. "I hope they made it too…"

He started to wander around the main streets of the world. "Excuse me!" He shouted at a man. "Where am I?"

"You're in Traverse Town," the man said. "Are you new?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for my friends," Sora said.

"Well hopefully they're here, so good luck." The man walked away from Sora. He continued to wander around the area. He talked to everybody on the streets, but neither had seen Riku or Kairi. In the end, he entered some of the shops to search.

"Hey there, how can I…Aw it's only a kid," the owner of the shop said to Sora as he walked in. He glared at the blond with goggles on his head.

"I'm not a kid! And the name's Sora!" he said, slightly indignant at being called a kid.

"Okay, okay, so simmer down," the man said. "So why the long face Sora? You lost or something?"

"No! Well…maybe." Sora hadn't wanted to admit the fact, but besides the place's name, he had no idea what it was, or even if it was another world or just a part of the islands he hadn't seen yet. "What is this place?"

"Huh?" the man asked.

"I mean, I was on my islands one minute, and the next, I'm here," Sora explained.

"This place is Traverse Town. It's a refuge," the man said.

"A refuge…So, gramps, is this really another world?" Sora asked. He hadn't expected to leave Destiny Islands with those shadows, but if this was a refuge world, did that mean his home was gone.

"Don't call me gramps! The name's Cid!" the man said. "Anyway…not sure what you're talkin' about, but this sure ain't your islands."

"Hmm…guess I'd better keep looking for Riku and Kairi then," Sora said with a sigh. He'd hoped when he finally left his islands they'd be with him, but both of his best friends were now missing.

"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing," Cid said and waved as Sora exited the shop. "If you ever run into trouble, you come to me. I'll look out for you."

After he left the shop, Sora began walking around the Traverse Town plaza, but little else was there. Seeing no other option, he exited through the two doors in the back. They lead him into a slightly narrower area with more buildings and shops lining either side. He walked into the center, only to be surprised as a man bolted in from the left side chased by the shadows from his island. He went to help the man, but the shadow reached him first, reaching at him with his claws the shadow attacked the man, causing a crystal pink heart to float out of him. The heart became shrouded in darkness as a blue humanoid creature with a silver helmet appeared. A red and black thorny heart was on its chest. The creature vanished moments later, but not before more black shadows could appear.

"It's those creatures from my island!" Sora realized and summoned out his Keyblade once more. He began slashing at them quickly, fighting his way through the shadows and the new helmeted creatures. While fighting, he noticed the helmeted ones were stronger than the shadows, so he concentrated on them, ignoring the hits that would strike every once in a while. He continued down another path and found the next area, this one defined by a statue of a dinosaur and a strange creature wearing a bow. The new area also held a new creature, this one large and round, bearing the same symbol as the strange helmeted ones. He tried running at it to hit it, but his Keyblade didn't land a hit, simply bouncing off as the creature tried to body slam him. He barely managed to roll out of the way of this new creature before it charged at him again. He raised his Keyblade, and while no damage was done, he was pushed back several inches.

"I have to get out of here!" He realized and cut across to the entrance the creature was guarding. It lead back into the area of Traverse Town Sora had initially appeared in. He sighed in relief, happy that this area was still unaffected and he had escaped the creatures. Remembering what Cid had said, he walked back into the shop from earlier.

"Back already?" Cid asked.

"I was being attacked by these weird creatures while looking for my friends and there was this big one that I couldn't seem to damage," Sora said. "How can I beat them?"

"I'll tell you what, you find your friends, and I'll tell the three of you how to beat them, so that way I don't have to tell the same information twice," Cid said.

"Okay," Sora said and walked outside of the shop. He was planning on going back to the place where he'd first started seeing the creatures. Maybe in his fight and panic he'd managed to miss them somewhere, and it would be possible to find them if he searched those areas again, and who knew, maybe the large round creature might have been gone by then.

"They'll come at you out of nowhere." Sora turned around to see the owner of the voice that had spoken, a brunet with a scar that went down his face. He was carrying a large blade with him.

"Who are you?" Sora asked. The man didn't answer and instead simply approached Sora.

"And they'll keep on coming at you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade," he said. "But why, why would it choose a kid like you?"

Sora was indignant; he didn't think he was a bad choice for wielder of the Keyblade at all. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind," the man said. "Now let me see that Keyblade."

"What? There's no you're getting this!" The Keyblade was the one weapon he used that allowed him to fight those creatures, and without it there was no way he could find Riku and Kairi. He had to keep the Keyblade for himself, whether this guy wanted it or not.

"All right, then have it your way." The man lifted up his long blade and took aim at Sora. Rather than running towards Sora as he was prepared for, bullets came out of the weapons front aimed directly at him. Sora rolled out of the way as quickly as possible only to get cornered and hit by the blade, knocking him back.

_This guy's strong,_  Sora thought. The man was definitely stronger than Riku. He was sure about that much. Sora ran at the man and tried to hit him with his Keyblade, the man lifted up his blade with little effort and pushed Sora away, causing him to find himself backed into a corner as another strike was fired at him. Without much of a choice, Sora ran at the man again, this time landing a hit that didn't faze the man at all. Even Sora's strongest attack barely seemed to do any damage against the man, which provided a problem. He knew he wasn't at full strength as it was since the battle against the giant shadow on his island, he knew he stood very little chance. He aimed one strike at the man's knee, which seemed to catch him by surprise; however the hits from his battles on the islands and here were taking their toll on Sora. He could barely stand up.

"Now… you're…gonna…you're gonna…" He collapsed where he stood, his body hitting the ground as he fought for consciousness, barely able to hear the words around him.

"Aw, you're slipping Leon," a girl's voice said.

"I went easy on him. Still, it looks like things are a lot worse off than we thought. A lot worse," the man, Leon, said. Sora felt hurt slightly that this man had been going easy on him. It meant that he was weaker than he thought.

He lost consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

"Come on lazy bum. Wake up." The words hit Sora's consciousness before he woke up and it was like a bolt of energy hit him. It couldn't have been Kairi, if she was really here, then did that mean he had found her. Then the two of them could look for Riku. He opened his eyes and sure enough, the red head was there in the hotel room he was now in.

"You okay?" Kairi asked.

"I guess…" Sora said. He was still embarrassed, and a little upset, over losing to the man in the earlier fight.

"Those creatures that attacked you were after the Keyblade. But it's you heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade," Kairi said. It sounded like she was explaining the creatures to him, which didn't make sense since she couldn't know about them; then again, so long as she was okay, he could ask her later.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi," he said and smiled.

"Kairi?" she asked. Her face contorted in confusion, leading Sora to believe he was wrong. Maybe this girl was from Kairi's world and was her identical twin, how else could she look exactly like Kairi? "Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja master Yuffie." All of a sudden "Kairi" disappeared, only to be replaced by a girl with short black hair and green outfit. "I think you might've overdone it Squall."

"That's Leon," it was only then that he noticed the man from earlier in the room. That must have been Leon, although what made him change to that from Squall made Sora slightly curious. He looked next to Leon to see his Keyblade lying there. They hadn't stolen it from him, just taken it out of his hands.

"The Keyblade…" Yuffie seemed to notice his staring. "Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that's how they were tracking you." Was that why they'd only shown up in places he was and why nobody else seemed to comment on them, or was that why they tended to swarm him. Sora was so confused.

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon said. "But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." He picked up the Keyblade and in a flash of light, the Keyblade returned to Sora's hand. It wasn't until that moment that he realized it had been weird to see the Keyblade out of his possession. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Why don't you start making sense? What's going on here?" Sora asked. He was ready for his answers.

* * *

 

"Okay, you know there are other worlds out there besides this town and your kingdom, right?" the woman asked Luigi, Bowser, and Peach.

"Rosalina has mentioned them a few times, but I'm afraid this has been the only time I've been to another world willingly," Peach said with a glance at Bowser.

"Hey! What's that look mean?!" Bowser asked.

"She's implying the only times she's ever left the world were because of you kidnapping her," Luigi said.

"What? You're lying!" Bowser growled.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are!"

"Ignoring those two," Tippi said. "Aren't the other worlds always supposed to remain hidden from each other?"

"Normally yes, but the recent years haven't been normal, as you're existence proves," the woman said. "They've only remained hidden so long because they weren't connected. When the Heartless came, everything changed."

* * *

 

"The Heartless?" Sora asked. He'd never heard that term used to describe a species before.

"The ones who attacked you, remember," Yuffie said. So that was what the shadows and other creatures he ran into on the islands and in Traverse Town were.

"Those without hearts," Leon explained. "The darkness in other people's hearts-that's what attracts them. And there is darkness in every heart."

"Hey, have you ever heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked.

* * *

 

"I don't think so," Luigi said. "Peach, Tippi?" He didn't even bother naming Bowser, if those two didn't know it wasn't likely Bowser would.

"I've never heard of him either in all the books in the Mushroom Kingdom," Peach said.

"I've heard the name before, but I do not know anything about him," Tippi said. "Who is he?"

"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report," the woman said.

"Wait there's all this info on those Heartless guys and you aren't showing them to us?" Bowser asked.

"Its pages were scattered," the woman said.

"So go find them then! They've all got to be somewhere around here," Bowser said.

"It's not that simple, they were scattered all over the worlds," she said.

"I suppose that causes a problem then," Peach said and put her hand up to her chin in thought. "Perhaps that's where Mario's gone, to gather these reports so he can know more about the Heartless."

"Those were my thoughts." The woman smiled.

"Well, let's go find my bro then!" Luigi jumped up from his seat.

"Hang on. Luigi, we still have to find the key before we can look for Mario," Tippi reminded him.

"That's right, the Keyblade," the woman said.

* * *

 

"So…this is the key?" Sora asked as he looked at the Keyblade again.

Yuffie nodded. "Exactly!"

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon explained. "That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this." He threw the Keyblade away from him, only for it to return in a burst of light moments later in his hand.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you," Yuffie said.

"So tough luck," Leon added.

"How did all this happen? I remember being in my room…" It hit him. He had thought Riku and Kairi were in Traverse Town, but after exploring around it was obvious neither were there, and there was still the matter of why he wasn't on his islands. He didn't know where his islands were and where his two best friends were. He had to know. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Kairi!"

"You know what? I really don't know," Leon said.

"Leon!"

"No, it's okay," Sora said and put on a fake smile. "I bet Riku and Kairi are somewhere in Traverse Town and then the three of us can look for the islands together."

"That's the spirit!" Yuffie smiled at him.

Leon frowned. "Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself."

"Prepare yourself?" he echoed.

"To fight for your life. Are you ready?" Leon asked.

"I'm ready!" Sora said. Maybe now he'd learn how to be a better fighter by taking out the Heartless and making up for his embarrassing loss against Leon earlier.

"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith," Leon said. "She should be there by now with the other visitors."

Yuffie's eyes looked toward the door. "Leon!" One of the helmeted Heartless had appeared.

"Yuffie go!" Leon commanded. Yuffie bolted out the door, slamming the door into Luigi as she went out and passing by the woman, Peach, Bowser, and Tippi.

"Yuffie?" the woman asked. After a second she followed the ninja master out of the room. The Heartless ran out of the window.

"Sora, let's go!" Leon jumped out the window after it, closely followed by Sora. They arrived in an alleyway outside the hotel. "Don't bother with the small fry. Find the leader. Let's go." He began fighting his way towards the area where Sora had first arrived in, leaving Sora to head in the direction of the fountain he had found. He ran out back into the second area he'd entered, Heartless swarming all over the place. He found himself facing the Heartless with the helmet and slashing at them in an attempt to kill them. He raised his Keyblade to block their kicks and slashed at them as they were momentarily stunned by the block. As each one of the helmeted Heartless fell, they released a small crystalline heart much like the one that formed them. Several of the black shadow Heartless surrounded him, but remembering Leon's words, he ran towards the entrance to the fountain area. One of the large round Heartless blocked the way.

"I have to take this thing out," Sora thought aloud before gripping his Keyblade tighter. This time when the Heartless jumped into the air to crush him, he rolled forward to get out of its way, giving him a view of its back. He slashed at it, and the Heartless seemed to stumble for a moment before charging at him and facing him. He realized that's how it had to be beaten, by attacking it from behind, so that's what he did, he attacked it from behind and it wasn't long before the Heartless had sustained enough damage that it fell.

"Yes!" he cheered. His happiness was short lived as more of the helmeted Heartless and shadow Heartless appeared. Realizing that the large round Heartless was not his target, he began to attack the ones around him to clear the path to the fountain area. Once they were defeated, he entered the area and ran to the center. Fighting on top of a building were Bowser, Luigi, and Peach.

"So many…" Tippi looked at Sora. "They all arrived when he entered the area."

"You don't think he's the one we're looking for, do you?" Luigi asked.

"That shrimp, I bet-" Bowser stopped as he saw Sora summon out his Keyblade.

"The Keyblade…" Tippi said. Her voice was filled with a slight awe.

"Then let's go!" Peach jumped off and opened her parasol to glide down gently and land next to Sora. Luigi and Bowser also jumped off the building, although their landing was a lot less gentle, shaking the ground beneath Sora's feet as Bowser landed. Tippi fluttered down.

"Who-"

"Heartless first!" Peach slammed her parasol into the Heartless beside her, one of the black shadows and took it out in one hit before turning towards another one and striking it. Bowser unleashed a torrent of flames at another of the Heartless, setting it on fire and killing it quickly. Luigi combated the Heartless with punches of his fist and quick bursts of green flames that erupted, and they made quick work of the surrounding Heartless.

"Now then, I'm-" before Tippi could start the introductions off, a large purple Heartless appeared from the ground. This Heartless appeared to be made of an armor with eyes out of the head and the thorny heart on the chest plate. "That's a Guard Armor Heartless. It's made of six individual segments that can all attack at once. If you take out the arms and legs, its head will be left defenseless."

"You know all that from a glance?" Sora asked.

"It's her talent," Bowser said. "Now are you gonna help us take out this Heartless or not?"

"Right!" Sora nodded and began to attack the hands of the Heartless. It began stomping and slapping its hands in his direction. Each stomp left a small shockwave that damaged Sora, as did each slap of the hand. He was constantly raising his Keyblade and rolling to get out of its way as the Heartless continued its rampage. Sora ended up in Bowser's direction as the large turtle unleashed another breath of flames on it, dealing damage and taking attention away from Sora. He ducked inside of his shell while Peach came up and attacked the torso with her parasol and ducked under it, protecting herself from all of its attacks. Sora ran up after it and once more slashed at it with his Keyblade, this time finding himself back to back with Luigi, who leaped up to punch it once more. Its body separated, the hands and feet no longer connected to the torso.

"You help me with the arms," Peach said to Sora. "You two attack the feet."

"Why does he get to work with you?" Bowser asked.

"Because you're better at ground targets," Peach said and with that turned to the arms before once more attacking it with her parasol. Sora followed her lead and slashed at it with his Keyblade. The two concentrated their efforts with both weapons. Occasionally she would release a pink heart from the tip of her parasol that allowed her to deal more damage to the hand than just her parasol alone. Whenever an attack came, she would effortlessly duck underneath and avoid taking damage. He threw his Keyblade at the hands to draw their attention away from Peach. As they went to go attack him, she pulled a frying pan out from her pockets and hit them with it. Both hands vanished.

Meanwhile, Luigi and Bowser were working on the feet. Luigi found himself constantly running out of range of the feet and their shockwaves while Bowser breathed fire on them.

"Come on Luigi! Do something!" Bowser shouted in anger.

Luigi threw a green fireball at the feet once more. "I'm trying! But I can't get close to these feet," he said.

"Then stomp 'em like that annoying Mario does!" Bowser said. Luigi, now feeling slightly stupid, leapt into the air and landed on one foot, not that it did that much damage. Bowser came up behind and clawed at the two feet, causing one to vanish while the other remained. The Keyblade soared through the air and destroyed the other foot.

"Thought you might need a hand," Sora said and smiled. Luigi and Bowser looked at each other in shock.

"Get your acts together; you still need to take out the head!" Tippi shouted at the duo who looked to see Sora and Peach both defending against the large Heartless as the torso began spinning into them, hardly giving one an opportunity to attack before they were forced on guard again. Luigi ran up first and once again punched the Guard Armor before leading it into Bowser's fire breath. Eventually it stopped spinning and its head fell off. With the head on the ground and it making no motion to get back up, it was subjected to a barrage of fists, Keyblade, parasol, and claws. Eventually a large heart emerged from the body as it vanished, leaving the four heroes a moment to catch their own breath.

"So you guys were looking for me, right?" Sora asked.

"Yup, my bro sent us out to look for you!" Luigi said.

"They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon said as he entered through the other entrance to the fountain area.

"We need you to help us on our journey," Tippi explained.

"We would be incredibly grateful if you traveled with us. You'd get to see a ton of worlds," Peach said.

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi…" Sora thought.

"Of course!" Bowser said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Tippi said and fluttered over to Sora. "We don't know if your friends survived the Heartless attack, but if they did, we'll help you find them."

"You should go with them Sora, especially if you want to find your friends," Leon said.

"I guess…" Sora said.

"Oh come on, Sora, was it?" Peach asked. "I promise we'll find your friends out there, but if they see you're upset, they might get upset too, so smile, okay?"

"Smile?" Sora asked. He made a wide grin and Peach giggled.

"Maybe not that big, but that's the right idea," she said.

"I guess I'll go with you guys," Sora said.

"I'm Princess Peach, but please don't add the princess part on," Peach said.

"I'm Luigi!"

"I'm the Koopa King, Bowser, and don't you forget it."

"I'm Tippi. I'm helping them on their quest in order to tell them about the foes like I did with the Guard Armor."

"She's also the last remaining Pixl," Peach added on. "And because she's a Pixl she can do the scan thing."

"I'm Sora," he said.

"I know, I also know your best friends are Riku and Kairi because of my scan, so if I scan anybody with either of those names, you'll be the first to know," Tippi said.

"Thanks!" Sora smiled.

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread," Leon said as they walked back to the area Sora had woken up in. The woman and Yuffie were there.

"You should check out the shops before you go, they're all pretty cool," Yuffie said and waved.

"This is from all of us to spend as you see fit," the woman said and handed him a small pouch with yellow and purple stones. "My name is Aerith."

"Nice to meet you Aerith," Sora said.

"This is from me," Leon handed Sora a yellow bottle. "Use it if you get into trouble."

"Thanks!" Sora smiled.

"Good luck!" Yuffie said.

"I hope you find your friends," Aerith added.

"Look out for each other and keep your spirits up," Leon said. Sora nodded and followed the other three out to the front gate.

"So what's out here anyways?" Sora asked.

"You see, when Bowser once kidnapped Peach, long story," Luigi added the long story part at the last minute, "he took off world. We were helped by an interworld princess named Rosalina. She helped us travel and gave some Toads a ship. Since Rosalina's missing, the Toad Brigade gave us their ship to travel the worlds." He indicated the red mushroom shaped ship.

"Don't worry about it being too small, there's room for five," Peach said.

"It also only needs three people to control it at maximum, so we should have an easy time with that as well," Tippi said. "There's a small combat training room below the main deck as well as a cabin for rest. Since you won't be piloting it, you can rest."

"We'll let you know when we arrive at the first world, so catch up on your rest. You've been through a lot," Luigi said.

"How come he gets to rest and not me?!" Bowser growled.

"Bowser, when your homeworld gets destroyed, you lose all of the Koopalings, Kammy and Kamek, and Bowser Jr., and have no idea how to drive the Starshroom then you can rest too now. Until then, you get to drive to the first world."

"Fine!" he shouted.

"If you don't mind Sora, I'll show you around the second half of the ship and explain the controls," Tippi said.

"Sure," Sora said. Tippi began to describe the control panel to him.

* * *

 

Riku woke up on floating platforms in a field of water. "Where…am I?" He looked up at the looming castle in front of him. "Kairi! Sora!"

* * *

 

"So…um, Count, the Keyblade Wielder managed to get rid of the Heartless in Traverse Town," a blue skinned woman with purple hair said. She was dressed as a secretary with glasses covering her eyes.

"Unexpected indeed, but not a problem, the plan shall continue, said Count Bleck." The creature who said this was strange indeed, as he had no visible body, and was simply a blue head atop a white cape with a top hat on. One of his gloved hands held a staff that was topped with a light blue gem. His eyes glowed red.

"'Ey Count! Where do ya think they'll go next! I want ta have a chance ta fight with 'em!" a man asked. He was pale compared to the other too, with segmented, muscular arms and a black outfit.

"Do not worry O'Chunks. Count Bleck does not believe they will be a problem. We shall ignore them until they prove otherwise," the creature said.

"Yes, a very good plan indeed," the one who said this was a jester. He had on purple and yellow attire, but covering his face was an eerie black and white mask, obscuring it from view. "Why should we waste time on these enemies who might not even make it very far to begin with."

"Golly, that makes a lot of sense Count." the final minion in the room said. She was a green girl with two green pigtails.

"Yes, speaking of, Mimi, Count Bleck needs you to pick up somebody immediately, he will have one of the girls we are looking for," the creature said.

"Of course! Be back in a jiffy!" The girl teleported away in an instant.


	7. Chapter 7

"We've arrived. Let's get to that new world!" Luigi said. Sora poked his head up top, slightly grateful not to hear another earful from Tippi about the how to run the Starshroom, although he had to admit it was a little interesting to learn how to shoot the Heartless.

"So what's this world going to be like?" Sora asked them.

"We don't know. With any luck, they won't try to kill us," Bowser said.

"Don't worry Bowser, I doubt we'll have much to worry about," Peach said. "So long as you don't fall into your old habits, we'll be fine."

"Oh, Sora," Tippi said, "before we go down to this world, you should know that most worlds don't know of the existence of other worlds, you can interact, but if you reveal that other worlds are out there, we might get into big trouble. If there's an easy lie to make yourself seem like a resident of the world, don't hesitate to take advantage of it."

"Oh, okay," Sora said. With that they landed the Starshroom in the outskirts of the grassy plain. The land around them was large and wide, in their view was a beautiful white castle surrounded by guards.

"I say we go in there!" Bowser suggested. "There's bound to be a princess with information."

"Old habits die hard," Luigi said with a laugh. Peach joined in a second later while Sora watched them in confusion.

"Actually, Bowser might be onto something," Tippi said. "Both of the missing people you three know are princesses, if a princess does live in the castle, which my scan tells me there is, it's possible our kidnapper might be targeting this princess as well."

"So we get to break in to talk to a princess!" Bowser gained a shock look on his face.

"Should be fun," Sora said. "How do we do it?"

"We should be stealthy," Luigi said. "Can anyone turn invisible?"

"No…" Sora shook his head.

"Then we do this my way," Bowser said. He laughed before firing a fireball at the castle wall. The wall broke, but interestingly enough, none of the guards seemed to deviate from their route to investigate the disturbance. "I guess castles everywhere have this bad a security!"

"Glad to know mine isn't the only bad one," Peach sighed before entering the wall. "I feel horrible about this…"

"Cheer up Peach; it's only this one time!" Sora said to her. He pushed open the door in front of them to see a young girl wearing a purple dress. She had blonde hair falling down to her shoulders and pointy ears.

"How did you four get in?" The girl asked. "Wouldn't the guards keep you out."

"Princess, your security is no match for Bowser!" Bowser laughed.

"Link said it was hard to get passed them," the girl said. "Are you four friends of him? I've never seen a turtle like you before, but the brown haired boy has a fairy like the Kokiri and the other two could be Hylian."

"That's right, I'm Peach, and these are Sora and Tippi, Luigi, and Bowser," Peach indicated each of them. "Bowser's a special…erm…turtle."

"My name's Princess Zelda," Zelda said. "How come you're here?"

"If you don't mind princess, we have a few questions. A few princesses my friends are friends with were recently kidnapped. We were hoping you might have a suspect or two that we could investigate," Tippi said.

"Please, call me Zelda, but there is one guy…" Zelda pointed out the window at a dark skinned man in the throne room. "His name's Ganondorf, and I think he wants to hurt Hyrule somehow. I already sent a new friend of mine named Link to help out, but if we can prevent him from gaining the Triforce we should be able to stop him from leaving the world and taking any more princesses."

"Link?" Sora asked.

"He's a Kokiri like you, except his fairy is different from Tippi. He's collecting the three Spiritual Stones for me so Ganondorf can't get them. If you can bring him here when he's done, then we wouldn't have to worry anymore," Zelda said. "Maybe you guys can go get him for me."

"What does he look like?" Luigi asked.

"He wears a green tunic and has blond hair and pointy ears and blue eyes," Zelda said. "He's also really young!"

"Alright Zelda, we'll come back soon," Sora said and they exited out the same hole of entry Bowser had created. The moment they left the room, Heartless began their swarm. Most of them were the helmeted and large variety from Traverse Town, but a few were skeleton creatures with the thorny heart on the shields they carried.

"Tippi! Scan!" Sora said.

"The helmeted kind are the Soldier Heartless. They're not very strong and go down in a few hits. They attack primarily through kicks. The round ones are the Large Body Heartless. The can only be attacked from behind and their body slam attack can pack quite a punch, so be careful. The final kind are Stalfos, a Heartless skeleton breed created by Ganondorf. They can attack using their swords and defend using their shields; however they're no smarter than most Heartless, so go nuts."

"Skeletons, I've never seen one that can hold up to my flames." Bowser sent a fireball after one of the Stalfos and it turned to ash within seconds of being exposed to the fire.

"Alright, Luigi, you and Bowser take out the Stalfos since you both can use fire. Sora and I will fight the Soldiers and Large Bodies," Peach said. She pulled out her parasol and began swiftly slicing through the Heartless, each swipe with her parasol slicing through the Heartless with enormous strength as the hearts floated up and out. Sora followed her example until they ended up in front of a Large Body. Peach ducked under her parasol the moment it went to jump on top of her while Sora rolled out of the way and ended up behind it. He stabbed at Heartless, which turned its attention to him and allowed Peach to get a slice at its back. Sora jumped above the Heartless and slashed at its head, thus taking it down as a heart was released. They turned around to see Luigi and Bowser burn the last Stalfos to ash.

"Hey, how tough is that parasol?" Sora asked.

"Honestly, as curious as I am, that's not a question I want to test. Toadsworth bought it for me to commemorate my one hundredth kidnapping and it works," Peach said.

"Come on, let's go look for Link," Luigi said after walking up to the duo. "The less time we waste here, the better."

"Agreed," Sora said.

* * *

 

It wasn't long after they left the castle that they ran into the boy. He had to be Link, because who else would be traveling with a fairy and wearing green.

"I'm sorry Link, if I had known you would have had to go inside that thing I would have warned you," the blue fairy by the boy's head said.

"At least I got the Zora Sapphire…even if it means I'm now engaged to Ruto…" Link said.

"Excuse me, Link," Sora walked up to him. Link looked at Sora in confusion. "That is you, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Link, and this is my fairy, Navi," he indicated the blue ball.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sora and these are my friends, Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and Tippi," Sora said. " Zelda sent us to bring you to her when you had the three…I think she called them Spiritual Stones…"

"Zelda sent you?" Link's eyes lit up with surprise.

"She did, come on, we aren't that far from the castle so we should be able to reach her in no time and-"

"Link!" Zelda shouted as she was carried on a horse past the heroes by the man she called Ganondorf.

"Oh no! Zelda!" Link went to run after her and the horse stopped.

"You're her Kokiri boy, aren't you?" Ganondorf sneered. "Well no need to worry, I'm not after the Tri-force yet. I need to deliver the princess here to my employer."

"Let her go!" Sora ran forward and summoned his Keyblade, closely followed by Peach, Luigi and Bowser behind him. Link even pulled out his little sword from his pocket.

"You want a fight that badly then, fine," Ganondorf waved his hand and a large spider Heartless appeared. "Have fun fighting him."

"Tippi/Navi," both Link and Sora said at the same time.

"That's a Golden Skulltulla Heartless. It's a giant bug, and often attacks by tackling its opponent and summoning weaker Skulltullas to do its bidding," both fairy and Pixl provided the information at the same time, causing the heroes to look at each other before grinning.

"Let's do this!" Sora said and started slashing at the legs of the giant spider. His Keyblade's strikes did about as much damage as Link's Kokiri sword did. It fired a spider web at Link, which he raised his shield to block before stabbing upwards at the stomach, which seemed to do more damage. Sora followed his idea and pushed his Keyblade upward into the golden bug's stomach. The others appeared to catch on as Bowser began scratching at it with his claws from underneath along with Peach's parasol stabbing underneath and Luigi's uppercut packing a powerful punch. Little spiders began forming at its feet, distracting them from the larger one.

"We'll keep the little ones busy, you and Link focus on the big one!" Luigi shouted as he sent a green flame at the small bugs on the ground. Peach's parasol effortlessly cut through the small bugs, cutting each one in half and releasing small hearts with each hit. Bowser's flames would burn a dozen for each Heartless his fire breath hit. Sora and Link continued to slice at the stomach of the Heartless. Eventually they were forced out from underneath it as it ran out from under and lowered down to charge at the two heroes, knocking them backwards.

Sora raised his Keyblade and threw it at the Heartless, knocking out four of its legs and causing it to fall over. He ran and climbed on top of the spider, and while Link continually stabbed at its back from below, Sora stabbed his Keyblade into its stomach right above the thorny heart lying on it. The Heartless gave one final shudder before rolling on its back and releasing a giant pink heart.

"Good job!" Luigi gave a thumbs up to Sora.

"Thanks," Sora said and then frowned when he noticed Link looking around in confusion.

"Ganondorf took Zelda…" Link muttered, "but not the Ocarina of Time…why?"

"Probably the same reason our princesses went missing," Peach said. "We actually came from another country that's princesses went missing."

"So we'll just go after him and save Zelda," Sora said and smiled. "Where would Ganondorf take Zelda, do you have any idea…"

"The Gerudo Realm, except that would be..." Link trailed off.

"What's wrong Link?" Navi asked.

"What if he purposely left Castle Town to mislead us…he might have gone to the Temple of Time," Link said.

"Well we go there and demand he return Princess Zelda then!" Bowser said. "Then we find out why he took her and kick his butt."

"I'm game," Luigi said.

"So am I," Sora said.

"I have to admit, it does sound like a good plan…which is surprising coming from Bowser," Tippi said.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go save Zelda!" Link lead the way back to Castle Town.

* * *

 

"Are you sure you need the girl?" Ganondorf asked.

"The Count says yes, besides, you get the music thingy, lay it outside and the hero will play it so you can get your item," the girl said with a smile.

"Hey! Let Zelda go!" Link ran into the temple. His eyes locked on the girl holding Zelda's now unconscious bodies.

"Sorry, no can do, but your second princess…" the girl smiled. "We'll need her too!" The girl teleported away as Link went to attack her. His sword met empty air.

"Second princess?" Peach echoed in confusion. "Does she mean…me?"

"We'll worry about what she meant after we take out Ganondorf!" Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"You honestly think you'll win?" Ganondorf laughed. "You fools have no idea how powerful I am." He raised his arm and fired a magical spell at Sora, who rolled out of the way as quickly as possible. He ran in with his Keyblade raised to prevent the magic spells from hitting him before slashing down with his Keyblade. Ganondorf turned his attention from Sora to Link and began firing spells at the Kokiri boy. Within minutes, the wooden shield he was using to protect himself was destroyed.

"Look out!" Peach jumped in front of Link and ducked under her parasol to avoid the attack. It did no damage to her and prevented the majority from hitting Link. Using her parasol, she slashed at him once more before pulling out a golf club and hitting him in the face with it. He backed away from her and into Bowser's stream of fire. Without much of a choice, Ganondorf charged up his arm with a dark energy and punched Peach in the face, knocking her backwards and into a wall, out cold.

"Peach!" Sora shouted.

"Sora, look out!" Tippi warned him to roll out of the way of a punch just in time, or else he would have ended up unconscious like Peach.

"Why didn't you say he could do that?" Luigi asked.

"All I scanned was that he can use magic, which considering his opening move was a pretty useless warning," Tippi said with a sigh. Link pulled out a bomb from his bag and threw it at Ganondorf, causing it to explode in his face. Thinking the fire came from Bowser, he started to turn his attacks to the turtle, returning to his former magic strategy. Link started pelting him with small seeds from his slingshot, but it seemed to deal no damage as Ganondorf didn't seem to notice.

"Link! You have to get the Master Sword!" He looked behind him to see Zelda toss him a blue ocarina.

"Zelda? How?" Link asked.

"Link, right now we could use that Master Sword if it will help us beat this guy! We'll hold him off!" Sora shouted and slashed at Ganondorf once again before rolling out of the way of another darkness infused punch.

"Right!" Link pulled out three gems, one blue, one red, and one green and put them all on the platform one at a time. He pulled out the ocarina before playing a song on it, causing a panel in the back of the temple to open revealing a sword on the podium. Link ran to it while Luigi punched Ganondorf in the face. He was hit by a spell not moments later, preventing him from guarding Link's way. Ganondorf ignored both Sora and Bowser as he made his way behind Link, the moment the boy pulled out the Master Sword; the two vanished.

"Link?" Sora asked as he looked for the blond boy and his fairy.

"Golly, you guys really are idiots. The Count has nothing to worry about!" "Zelda" laughed as she transformed into the green skinned girl.

"Count? What are you talking about?" Tippi asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," the girl said and vanished.

"Hey, Peach, wake up!" Bowser roared and Peach sat up moments later with confusion on her face at the missing Link and Ganondorf.

"Where did they go?" Peach asked.

"We don't know," Sora said.

"Did you find out what that girl meant by they were coming after me?" Peach asked.

"No, Sorry Princess," Luigi said.

"That count person she mentioned…" Tippi sighed. "Maybe Mario didn't leave to find the Ansem reports, but instead left find him…"

"We'll have to ask about him when we meet with Leon and the others if they've heard of a count," Sora said. A black keyhole appeared in the air above the three stones, much to the confusion of the others.

"What's that?" Luigi asked.

"Well, it is a keyhole and Sora does wield a Keyblade, so maybe he can lock it," Tippi said. Sora nodded.

"I'll give it a shot," he said. He summoned his Keyblade to his hand and pointed to it at the keyhole, a flash of light went from his Keyblade into it and a click sounded. "I guess that's it…"

"Then we should keep moving, we still have a few more worlds within range of the Starshroom to check out," Luigi said. "This time Sora, you'll be manning the guns, Tippi taught you how to do that, right?"

"Yeah, she did," Sora said.

"Good, Peach, do you want to sit out this time?" Luigi asked.

"I wouldn't mind a bit of time to rest," she said and nodded.

"Great, let's head off to the next world!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Sora! Aim left!" Luigi shouted as he steered the Starshroom out of the way of a Heartless in the road.

"I'm firing now!" Sora said. He pushed the button as three more Heartless were destroyed.

"What were you guys thinking giving him control over some canons," Bowser said.

"Just because it's not as smooth as the last journey doesn't mean Sora's doing a bad job," Tippi said.

"So where are we going anyways?" Sora asked. Luigi pointed to a giant arena out in the middle of space. "What's there?"

"The smash tournament," Luigi said. "It's an interworld tournament that few are invited too. It can span large quantities of time and space simply to get the competitors. There's normally at least one Link in attendance as well as a Ganondorf and typically a Zelda, but they weren't the ones we met."

"So why are we going then?" Sora asked.

"Where better to seek information on other missing princesses and a mysterious count than a popular fighting tournament that crosses worlds," Peach said. "I sometimes fight in the tournament too, but last year I got disqualified."

"How come?" Sora asked.

"I kind of brought in an extra move with my umbrella, which they disapprove of…" Peach looked away. "I forgot to register it so they sort of disqualified me…"

"Not that it mattered, some creatures from Subspace crashed the party anyways," Luigi said. "All of us worked together to defeat it."

"I was forced into it!" Bowser said.

"So we're gonna go there then?" Sora asked.

"Of course," Peach said and they landed the Starshroom onto the world. Peach stepped out first.

When Sora walked out, he was amazed by the stadium and the seats within. "Wow! This place is huge!"

"Newbie, right?" a boy in red asked as he looked at Sora. "He from your world?" he asked the Mario group.

"No way would he be from out world!" Bowser shouted.

"Bowser, calm," Peach said. She stuck her hand out to prevent him from charging at the boy. "Sora's a new competitor we offered a ride to."

"So what world's he from then?" the boy asked.

"I'm from Destiny Islands!" Sora said.

"Never heard of it," the boy said before walking off.

"Who was he?" Sora asked.

"That's Red. His first tournament was last year," Luigi answered. "He comes from the Kanto League, part of a cluster of worlds that are inhabited by many creatures called Pokemon. We don't know how many there are."

"Hey, quick question, if worlds are meant to be a secret, and I know they are, how does this world exist?" Tippi asked.

"It runs on an invitation based system. Only if you have an invite can you know about other worlds in this case," Peach said and pulled out a sheet of paper with a segmented circle on it. "Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and I all have one."

"I don't…" Sora said. His voice was filled with disappointment.

"We know. You and Tippi need to be out here and talking to the Smashers. If you can find Zelda, Link, or maybe even Samus or Lyn, you should ask them about missing princesses," Luigi said. "We'll use the tournament as a cover to allow us access, otherwise they'd ship us off."

"Oh, so I guess I'll see you guys after you win or lose," Sora said. He waved as they left.

"You really want to be in the battle, don't you?" Tippi asked after they left.

"Wouldn't you? This would be a great place to train if they're all champions!" Sora said. "Now to mention all of the people I'd get to meet."

"Assuming we're all here for a social call?" Sora turned around to see a blonde haired woman in a blue skin tight suit. "I figured they got smarter fighters than that…"

"I don't have an invite, Tippi and I are here for moral support," he said. "I'm Sora."

"Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter," Samus said.

"You've traveled the worlds?" Sora asked.

"Between social calls among the few friends I've made here and missions, yes," she said.

"So do you know about the Heartless, or any mysterious counts?"

"Heartless, they've been around for ten years starting in Radiant Garden. The last person I heard of who was a count was Count Noir of the Tribe of Darkness five years ago who died along with the rest of his people," she said.

"What about their lord?" Tippi asked. A hint of surprise seemed to sound in her voice. "Did he survive?"

"All of the Tribe of Darkness died. Shouldn't that be obvious?" Samus asked and sighed. "I have to go sign up, okay?" With that she left.

"Did you know this Count Noir guy Tippi?" Sora asked.

Tippi hesitated before answering. "I…I don't know…" she said. "Sora, if I were to trust you with something that nobody else knew, would you keep it a secret?"

"Sure," he said.

"I can't remember anything before I became a Pixl. Merlon said it was because his magic in making Pixls was rusty and I'll never get it back… but I think it's because something tampered with my memories before I became one, and every once in a while names and things might trigger a memory or something like that question and then… I wish I knew who I was before this Sora…"

"Well, how about after we find Riku, Kairi, and Mario, I'll help you find your memories?" Sora asked.

"You'd-you'd do that?" Tippi asked in surprise.

"I care about my friends, and you're one of them now," Sora said and smiled. "So it's a promise."

"Yes…a promise…" Tippi said.

"Alright, now let's look-Heartless!" Sora summoned out his Keyblade in a bright flash of light and ran up to two small boys being attacked by the shadows. "You two get out of here!"

"Those are Shadow Heartless, the most basic variety. Even by now they should be no match for your Keyblade," Tippi said. "The slightly larger shadows are called Neo Shadows, and they're a bit more powerful."

"Got it," Sora said and ran at the Shadow Heartless first. His Keyblade slid through each one with very minimal effort, vaporizing a Heartless with each hit into a dark cloud. He stood in front of the first Neo Shadow and watched as it sank into a pool of darkness in the ground. It came up from and went to claw at him, scarcely giving him time to lift his Keyblade up in defense. The claws bounced off the Keyblade and caused the Heartless to bounce back. He rushed up to it again and stabbed it once, and then again before being clawed at and forced back.

"PK Thunder!" The small boys shouted and a small blue orb left them. The first orb hit the Heartless immediately while the second passed through it, causing it damage before turning around and causing the large shadow to dissipate.

"Thanks," Sora said.

"No problem, I'm Ness and this is Lucas. Are you entering the smash tournament this year?"

"I don't know, don't have an invite," Sora said.

"Oh, well, okay then," Ness said. "Come on Lucas."

"So you can fight…" Sora jumped as a glowing blue man who appeared to be made out of data appeared in front of him. "I might have use for you." The man threw a sheet of paper at him.

"Invite: Sora has been invited to the Brawl?" Sora looked at the invite to see it stamped with the same circle as Peach's and Bowser's, along with a heart split up into two segments. "Cool!"

"We shouldn't though, I mean…" Tippi sighed when Sora pouted at her. "Alright, fine, go join the tournament."

"Yeah" Sora ran inside. He walked up to the man running it. "I'd like to enter the Smash tournament."

"Invite?" Sora handed in the paper. "You're in. You're number thirteen. Good luck."

"Yeah!" he walked up to the back room with the invitation in hand and looked at the bulletin board. "It says I'm fighting number 14…"

"How'd you get in?" Peach asked and stared at Sora. "Did you learn anything?"

"Some glowing blue guy gave me an invite," Sora said. Peach froze.

"Sora, that's Tabuu, the person who lead the charge against this world. Be careful," Peach said.

"So what number are you?" he asked.

"Number 13B. It's a team tournament. Luigi's number 13C and Bowser's number 13D," Peach said.

"I'm number thirteen," he said. "So who's number fourteen anyways?"

"Some new guy named Cloud Strife. It said he's from Radiant Garden…" Peach said. "As for 14 B, C, and D, I don't know. It didn't say so they're probably no shows."

"Who wants to bet they were Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf?" Tippi asked. "After all, how could they show?"

" _Will numbers thirteen and fourteen make their way up to the brawl arena at this time!"_

"That's Master Hand, the ruler of this world. We're up," Peach said. "Come on!"

"Right!" Sora ran after Peach to meet with Luigi and Bowser.

"What's he doing here?" Bowser asked.

"He's number thirteen," Peach said. "So we'll be Team Sora rather than Team Peach."

"You got an invite, awesome!" Luigi gave Sora a thumbs up just as they arrived in the center of the field. Standing on the other side was a blond with spiky hair, no sign of any of his partners.

"Now introducing numbers thirteen and fourteen. As the rest of number fourteen has been declared no shows, number thirteen will be going it alone!"

"Good luck Sora," Peach said before pushing him out.

"I get to fight some kid…" the man stared at Sora.

" _Competitors Sora from Destiny Islands and Cloud Strife from Radiant Garden, you have five minutes to knock your opponent off the edge. If they are not knocked off within twenty minutes, a coin will be flipped to determine the winner. You may begin."_

"So they want me to fight a kid…" Cloud looked at Sora with disappointment. "Piece of cake."

"Hey!" Sora glared and summoned out his key.

"So you're the key…"Cloud said. "Still won't make this harder." He ran out Sora while pulling out a giant sword. The sword slashed at him, giving Sora no time to lift his defense and causing him to nearly fall off the edge almost instantly. Sora threw his Keyblade at Cloud only for the older warrior to run around it effortlessly. Sora took advantage of the distraction and ran forward, summoning his Keyblade back at the last second to deal a bit of damage. He took it like Leon did as though Sora had dealt know damage at all. This time Cloud picked up his sword and began slashing at him nonstop. Sora ducked and rolled to avoid it, but several attacks still hit. At this rate, he would collapse from wounds as opposed to falling off the edge. He lifted up his Keyblade to intercept another strike. The clang of metal on metal resounded throughout the entire stadium and Sora pushed back harder in an attempt to stop Cloud's onslaught. The large sword was pushed out of Cloud's hands.

Cloud attempted to run after his sword and pick it up, but Sora didn't let him. Now on the offensive, he charged at the blond warrior and struck at him with his Keyblade before making a stabbing motion, the blunt edge hit the side of Cloud's shoulder, causing him to grab it. Sora hit him again before Cloud pushed back with his hands and ran to pick up his sword, the slightly wounded shoulder made the sword strike slower than before, but not enough to help Sora defend. He lifted up to block strike after strike, still not protecting him well enough as attacks continued to hit. It wasn't long before his feet hit the edge of the platform once more. In a last ditch effort, he rolled to the side as Cloud struck. Cloud continued the motion and with a little push from Sora, he fell off the edge.

"Yeah! I did it! See, that's the power of the Keyblade!" Sora looked down for Cloud.

"Good fight," Cloud nodded to him and walked past.

"You think you can lose Cloud!" A voice shouted as the blue man, Tabuu appeared in the field.

"You said fight the key to find where he was. You said nothing about me actually winning," Cloud said.

"That will have to change," Tabbu said. He raised his hand as a large creature appeared in the center of the battlefield. It was purple and covered in armor, little black particles seemed to pour out from its back. "New rules! Team number 13 must now defeat my Subspace monster!" Tabuu teleported away.

"He entered me to kill me?" Sora asked.

"Cloud, get out of here!" Peach shouted. "We can take him out!"

"Right…" Cloud looked at her with doubt, but in his condition it wasn't really like he could do much fighting anyways.

"Let's go!" Sora ran up to the large creature, but stopped short as it twirled in the air, barely missing him by an inch.

"That's Golem. He's one of many soldiers in Tabuu's army, the Subspace Enemy. He's big and bulky, and most of his attacks can be devastating if they manage to land a hit, so be careful," Tippi said.

"Did you fight him last time Peach?" Luigi asked.

"It was Mario's turn inside the maze," Peach said and shook her head. "Oh well, more fun when you don't know what you're doing." She ran up to Golem and slashed at him with her parasol, ducking under it just as he stomped his foot to crush her. The ground around her shattered, but her and her parasol remained unscathed as she once more ran after him not moments later before hitting him again. Luigi ran up to Golem and headbutted him, which seemed to do a fair amount of damage as a small crack in Golem's armor appeared. Unfortunately he was unable to avoid the next spin attack in time and was knocked back several feet. Bowser grabbed him shortly before he hit the wall of the smash arena.

"Hey! Watch it!" Bowser shouted. "We have no time for injuries!" He opened his jaw and let loose a stream of fire at Golem, causing him to step back to avoid the flames. Sora, standing behind Golem, stabbed at the Subspace warrior with his Keyblade in the back just as Golem jumped. Golem landed on Bowser and Peach, effectively crushing them. Luigi looked back in surprise to see them stand up after removing themselves from the ground.

"We're okay! Take him out!" Peach shouted before reaching into a pocket and throwing an orb with the Smash Symbol out onto the field. Luigi ran for it, but it collided with Sora's Keyblade seconds before the younger Mario brother could grab it. A rainbow aura surrounded Sora and his eyes began to glow.

"What's going on?" Sora asked.

"Use it!" Peach shouted. "Just concentrate and it will activate!"

"Um…okay?" The rainbow aura suddenly discharged. Sora lifted his Keyblade high into the air and five successive beams of white light shot down, hitting Golem several times before the Subspace monster dissolved into many particles. "Did…did I do that?"

" _The Final Smash unlocks the user's potential,"_  Master Hand's voice said.  _"So long as you promise to seal the Keyhole on my world, you are welcome to use it off of this world. All four of you may use it in your search for your friends and quest to save the world."_

"So can you tell us where the Keyhole is?" Sora asked.

" _I trust you'll be able to find it Keyblade Master…"_

"Wow? Did Master Hand just talk to you…personally?" Peach's voice couldn't hide her surprise. "Sora, he never does that! Always just taunts or laughs or orders, you had a conversation with him."

"I guess sealing this world's Keyhole is really that important," Sora said and smiled. "Should we find it."

"I don't think we have to look hard…" Luigi indicated the trophy for the winner. A black Keyhole formed on the top. A beam of light shot out of Sora's Keyblade, effectively sealing it.

"We must hurry to the next world then to continue our search," Tippi said.

"Right, I'm-" Sora stopped as he saw Cloud. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Cloud said.

"So why did you go along with him anyways?" Sora asked. He had to know why Cloud had so willingly worked with Tabuu.

"I'm looking for someone," Cloud said. "Tabuu promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness and couldn't find the light." He stood up and went to walk away.

"You'll find it. I'm searching too," Sora said. That seemed to catch Cloud's attention.

"For your light?" he asked. "Don't lose sight of it."

"So how about a rematch sometime, no dark powers allowed?" Sora asked.

"I think I'll pass," Cloud said and continued his walk to the Smash World's exit.

"Well…that was a bit rude…" Peach said.

"Nah, it's okay!" Sora smiled. "We should leave anyways, I still have Riku and Kairi to find."

"And Mario," Luigi said. Sora nodded.

"Yeah, and Mario too!"


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey! This world reminds me of the good old days!" Luigi said. The world they had landed on was fully pixilated, with green grasses and bushes.

"Those days weren't good. I was being beaten up by your stupid brother every other week!" Bowser growled.

"This place does have a nostalgic feel, almost as if it were a throwback to simpler times," Peach said.

"I don't get it," Sora said.

"It's an older generation thing, I don't quite understand the nostalgia either," Tippi said.

Sora nodded in understanding. "If we're done feeling nostalgic, maybe we should look for Riku and Kairi here."

"Well, I do sense an odd presence here, perhaps-" whatever Tippi was about to say was interrupted as a large pink tongue grabbed her. She screamed.

"Tippi!" Sora shouted.

A laugh sounded as a chameleon with a tacky yellow shirt and glasses appeared in front of them. "I finally managed to catch myself a butterfly! All of my friends on will be so jealous!" The chameleon ran away with Tippi before the heroes could do anything to stop him.

"Come on, we have to help her!" Sora said and began to run after the chameleon.

"Sora, wait." Peach reached her hand out to stop him. "We don't know where we're going and-"

"Tippi might be in danger," he said as an explanation.

"Yeah, but…" Bowser looked away. "I don't really want to say this, but Tippi isn't a priority, and the odd presence wasn't the people we are looking for. So we don't really need to stay, right now, unfortunately, that stupid plumber is more important than her."

"No, we've got to help," Sora said. "We can't abandon her, she's our friend."

"If you need help finding Francis's castle, perhaps I can help," a boy said. His blue hair was spiked out in all directions, much like Sora's.

"You know the chameleon?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, he attacks every tiny thing in the Bitlands. He attacked me for being…I think he said something about me being a bishounen or something…" the boy seemed to mutter at the last part. "You can only get to his castle by crossing the Tile Pool. I wouldn't recommend going, but…your friend will be pretty miserable if you don't go. You could also clear out some of the scary monsters there."

"Scary monsters…how much do you want to bet those are the Heartless," Sora said.

"Do you mind helping us out?" Peach asked.

"I would, but I'm a bit…um…nervous around the crazy guy…good luck though…" the boy disappeared into one of the nearby bushes.

"So it's settled then, we help Tippi to find the Heartless around that area," Sora said.

"Fine," Bowser said. Peach and Luigi just nodded.

* * *

 

"So this is the Tile Pool, huh?" Sora asked. "Anybody have a boat?"

"I'm afraid not," Peach said and sighed. "We'll have to swim across the entire pool."

"We'll drown then…" Sora said. He put his foot in the water anyways, only to find it was slightly strange. Not quite water, but not quite air. Tentatively, he stepped in another few steps. It was cold around him and felt wet; however, unlike the oceans on his island, he was able to breathe when he inhaled the water. It was a strange sensation, not quite drowning under water, and he popped up above the surface of the water. "Hey guys, you can breathe down here!"

"Really?" Luigi jumped in and didn't reemerge from the water. Bowser just stared while a shocked and worried expression appeared on Peach's face.

"Luigi!"

"Don't worry princess, I'm right here!" the green clad plumber emerged moments later. "Sora's right, you can breathe under water, so it's just a straight walk to the castle on the other side of the pool of water."

"Alright then…" Peach submerged and popped up a few minutes later. "Come on Bowser. We have to keep moving if we don't want to waste too much time on this world."

"Alright…fine!" Bowser said and jumped into the water. A look of shock emerged on his face as he too found that he could breathe under the water. "What are we waiting for, let's get moving all ready!"

"Okay," Sora went to take another step as a giant white tentacle emerged from the ground in front of him. Just beside the area of sea floor, a giant squid like creature emerged from the chasm beside them.

"Bloop! Bloop!" the creature said.

"A Blooper? We must be in an area similar to Mushroom Kingdom," Luigi said. He looked up at the Blooper. "Blooper, we don't wish to fight, we simply wish to pass through your home."

"Bloop?" the Blooper said. It appeared to understand Luigi and was asking why they wanted to enter the Tile Pool in the first place rather than fight.

"We're trying to save a friend," Sora explained. "Our friend Tippi was taken from us and the person who took her lives on the other side of the Tile Pool. His name is Francis and-"

The Blooper got mad as it turned a slightly red color and raised a tentacle to block the path behind them. "Bloop!" it said and used one of its blue tentacles to slash at the four. They all tried to frantically swim away from the tentacle, but Bowser, being the slowest, was hit by the massive blue suctioned cup tentacle. In return, he blasted it with fire that magically worked under water causing the Blooper to recall its tentacle, however it hardly seemed to react or was even fazed by the attack, simply lifting up another tentacle to replace the first one and swiping at Sora, knocking the Keyblade Wielder back and barely giving him time to retaliate before the tentacle went below. Peach and Luigi underwent the same treatment, and Bowser even tried to attack the yellow ones blocking them in, but nothing seemed to harm the Blooper at all.

"How is this thing beating me?" Bowser growled before slashing at another tentacle with his claws before ducking into his shell to avoid taking damage from the hit. Peach slashed the new tentacle with her parasol before Bowser could emerge, however when the parasol made contact with the tentacle, the Blooper cried out in pain.

"How did you do that?" Sora asked.

Peach looked at the retreating tentacle to notice something different. It had red suction cups rather than blue or yellow. "Aim for the red tentacle! It's the vulnerable one!"

Sora slashed through another tentacle before nodding. He didn't realize until now how much he missed Tippi and her scans. They made most fights against any creature a whole lot easier. He slashed through another tentacle before lowering his Keyblade to protect from an attack from below. He lifted up his Keyblade and threw it at an oncoming tentacle. When the Keyblade made contact, another scream of pain emerged from the Blooper. He launched another attack at the Blooper, but this one caused the Blooper to not feel any pain. Bowser meanwhile seemed lucky enough to get the red tentacle as his claws ripped into the tentacle in front of him, the Blooper let out another shriek of pain. As the tentacle retreated, Sora landed another blow by striking at the tentacle for a second time as it reseeded. Luigi charged at the tentacle nearby him for it to disappear below and the red one to appear thirty seconds later. He punched it with his fist before the Blooper could cry out in pain again, it fled.

"Great job, now we need to finish getting through this place so we can leave," Bowser said and shook his head in disgust.

"What's Bowser's problem?" Sora asked.

"It's this world. It brings back a nostalgic feel for Luigi, Bowser, and me, and Bowser always lost," Peach said. "Not to mention he really doesn't like water that much since he fights with fire. You know, Bowser must really care and respect you if he's willing to endure the equivalent of torturous memories in order to save a friend who you've become especially close to."

"So he doesn't show that he cares well?" Sora asked.

"He thinks kidnapping me every other week is going to make me his friend and fall in love with him." Peach sighed. "He does know it won't work I think, he just can't express it any other way."

* * *

 

"Dry land! Finally!" Bowser emerged from the Tile Pool and stared at the large white castle in front of their eyes. "Oh come on! Why does the giant nerd get such a nice big white castle?"

"Don't worry Bowser, your castle is still nicer," Peach said and smiled. "Now come on, we should enter, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, Tippi's in-Kairi?" Sora asked as he locked eyes on the red haired girl walk around the side of the castle. "Kairi!"

"Kairi, isn't that one of your friends?" Luigi asked. Sora

"She's right over there!" He ran around the side of the castle to see Kairi missing. He sighed in frustration and picked up a sheet of paper lying on the ground. On it was a picture of a strange castle. He looked at it in confusion. He swore he'd seen it before. "Hey, guys, have you seen this?" he asked the others.

"I haven't," Peach said.

"I haven't either," Luigi said.

"Nope," Bowser said.

Sora sighed. "I guess it's just a weird feeling. We should go inside."

"What about Kairi? Didn't you say she was here?"

"It was probably just my imagination," Sora said. He faked a smile before walking back to the main gate of the castle and pushing it open. When they entered, they were greeted with a horrifying sight. Cat robots in maid outfits were all over the place, among various other merchandise for animes, mangas, and comic books.

"Oh my…" Peach said. She was unsure of how to react in this geek's home. Thankfully, various Heartless appeared to distract them. Most of them were of the Shadow and Soldier variety, but a few were vaguely reminiscent of the cat robots and would fire smaller exploding Heartless out of its mouth. Sora was able to slice through most of the Shadows while Peach took out the Soldiers. Luigi's and Bowser's fire set the little bombs on fire as they left the cat Heartless's mouth, causing them to explode and take out the Heartless and with little effort.

"Alright, let's find what's bringing in these Heartless," Luigi said. "I bet it's that chameleon." He tried to pull open the door. The moment he did, the eyes on the large cat like door opened up.

"Meow! Only Master Francis and totally hot babes allowed in, activating Kitty Lasers." Two red beams emerged from the eyes of the door, chasing them back outside before they could continue their search.

"This stinks! How do we get in?" Bowser growled.

"We don't get in…" Luigi said and looked to Peach and Sora. "Not when we have a beautiful princess and a kid who looks like he walked out of an anime."

"No way!" Both Sora and Peach shouted at the same time.

"Then I guess you won't be saving Tippi then," Luigi said. Peach sighed.

"Fine, I'll go in, but if something happens, send Sora in after me," she walked into the castle's entrance chamber and up to the cat door, Sora hiding behind a column and watching her every move.

" Meow! Totally hot babe detected! Must check compatibility with Master Francis. Answer the following questions. Video games and hot babes are totally hi-technicaaaaal!"

"Uhh, True?" Peach guessed. She had no idea what the point of the question was, but she figured if she answered true to everything, she would have to get it right at some point.

"If it's limited edition, buy it!"

"Yes?"

"I have bought games that I have never played."

"True…"

"If it's got fierce giant robot on giant robot combat, it's an insta-buy!"

"True?"

"They're not dolls. They're action figures. With real fire punching action."

"True?"

"I have dumped a friend over an argument about 'Starship X-Naut' propulson technology."

"Why would you-it's for Tippi, true."

"A schweet cover illustration is way more important than the story line."

"True."

"Never pull the top copy from a pile of comics! Find the mint-condition one!"

"True."

"My first love was an anime character!"

"True."  _This guy is a lunatic,_  she thought.

"I love going on message boards and complaining about games I've never played!"

"True." The moment she answered that last question, the door opened, revealing the chameleon with a camera held in his hand.

"Who are you?" the chameleon asked. "How did you get in my room, haven't you ever heard of privacy?"

"You, there you are! Tell me-"

"Wait a second, were you actually looking for me?" the chameleon asked. "You were? Oh my Grambi! A totally hot babe wants to talk to me!"

"I didn't-"

"Ahh! Must activate Nerr2babe right away!" the chameleon pulled out his laptop computer and started to run some form of program.

"But I-"

"So, my name is Francis, what's yours?" Francis asked.

"I'm not answering anything you ask," Peach said.

"What, ah, such sass! You're fantastic!" Francis said. Peach could only stare. Had the nerdy chameleon ever even met a real girl before? "Tell me, what animes do you watch?"

"Um…I don't-"

"I know, it's so hard to decide between animes," Francis said. "They're all so-"

"Will you shut up?" Peach asked. "I am not an otaku who spends their life locked inside their home on their computer. All I want is for you to tell me where Tippi is.

"Tippi, what's a Tippi?"

"You-ugh," Peach tried to hold in her groan.

"Peach? Is that you?" a voice asked. Peach looked behind Francis to see Tippi trapped in a cage. "You guys came for me?"

"You came for her?" Francis growled. "Well you can't take my Francine!"

"Francine," Peach said. Her face fell into a narrow line. "Sora, now!"

"Peach," Sora ran in with his Keyblade out and Francis gained a starstruck look on his face.

"It's an anime hero!" The chameleon exclaimed.

"Uh, no! Now let go of Peach and Tippi," Sora said.

"No way!" Francis stuck his tongue out in an attempt to grab Peach and Sora in it, however a single strike of the Keyblade on his tongue seemed to shock Francis. "How about you face my Heartless friend then!" No Heartless appeared to fight them. Francis seemed to wait in anticipation for something to happen.

"Um…okay?" Sora ran over to the cage and lifted it up while the chameleon was distracted. Tippi fluttered up.

"Sora…Peach…thank you," Tippi said.

"No problem, what are friends for?" Sora smiled.

"Friends, we're friends," she said. "We should go now before that Heartless shows up."

"I agree," Peach said. As they went to exit, Bowser and Luigi ran in. "What are you two-"

"Run!" Luigi shouted. None of them could see what was attacking them.

"There's a Heartless there," Tippi said. "Allow me to make it visible." A gray chameleon appeared not moments later. "That's a Void Lizard. They tend to run and hide rather than actually fight, however they can be a reasonable challenge, so it's best to be prepared. You'll have to defeat both Francis and it in order to leave I bet."

"In that case, Peach and I now have a reason to fight Francis," Sora said. "Luigi, Bowser, you take the Void Lizard."

"Gotcha!" Luigi said.

Sora now turned towards the green geeky chameleon. He summoned his Keyblade in a flash of light and lifted it up to block an attack from his tongue that tried to grab Sora. His Keyblade was stuck to Francis's tongue; however he quickly summoned it back to his hand and managed to slash at Francis once before he disappeared. Peach backed up to Sora. "Look for disturbances," she said. "I bet that's where he'll be hiding." She rushed forward at what appeared to be nothing to Sora and attacked at the air with her frying pan. Francis appeared moments later and stuck his tongue out at Peach. She leaped over the tongue before landing on his head and holding onto him. Sora stabbed at Francis toward the top of his head with the Keyblade, unfortunately nearly knocking Peach off in the process. She lost her grip on his head and fell off, but not before pulling out a golf club and hitting him once more. Sora threw his Keyblade just before Francis disappeared, dealing slightly more damage. The two once more found themselves meeting with their backs to each other. This time, when she noticed the disturbance, Peach pushed Sora in the direction of Francis. His Keyblade pointed out in front of him managed to cause further damage Francis, knocking him unconscious.

Luigi turned toward the Void Lizard and watched as it vanished once more from their sight. The battle had barely started, but already the foe had turned itself invisible to avoid any attacks. Two large beams of light fired at Luigi and Bowser from the eyes. Luigi ran out of the way while Bowser ducked into his shell. When the shell was hit, it bounced into a wall before bouncing back and managing to hit the Heartless. The Heartless charged at the two with its tongue, but Luigi and Bowser both managed to avoid the tongue by rushing to either side before they both got in close to punch and claw. Before they could hit it again, a bright light flashed and Sora's Keyblade stabbed through the lizard, causing it to leave behind a pink crystal heart.

"We should get going before he wakes up," Peach said. The other three nodded.

"I definitely don't want to deal with him," Sora said in agreement.

"What about the Keyhole to this world. You have to seal it before we go so we'll never have to return," Tippi said.

"If you know where it is then show us," Bowser said.

"It's more of a feeling…but…" Tippi pointed at the area where her cage had sat on the table. A small green heart was imprinted on it. As Sora approached, a bright ray of light appeared from the tip of his Keyblade and the Keyhole appeared. This time however, a small golden star appeared from beneath it.

"A power star…" Peach gasped. "Mario was here!"

"Well not anymore," Luigi said. "But we should take this to Traverse Town. Maybe somebody there can install it in the Starshroom."

"Yeah, let's go!" Sora said.

* * *

 

"Yeah, um, Count? The Keyblade Wielder has managed to seal three Keyholes," the woman said.

"Interesting, mused Count Bleck," the creature said.

"So tell me, what's the plan?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, do we finally get to fight those icky heroes?" the girl asked.

"Yes. When Count Bleck goes to Traverse Town with the boy, O'Chunks will accompany him."

"Really Count? I get ta fight the 'eroes firs'?" the man asked. "I'll make sure they be cryin' for their Maddy when I'm through with 'em."

"That would be Mommy O'Chunks," the jester corrected. "You have brains like that of the dinosaurs that went extinct thousands of years ago. Perhaps you are dumber than Mimi."

"Hey! I completed the Count's mission," the girl said.

"Speaking of the girl, Nastasia, when I return have her ready."

"Yes Count," the woman said. The creature and man vanished, probably to get the one they were taking to Traverse Town.


	10. Chapter 10

"So, you saved another world?" Leon asked as Sora, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach walked in through the Traverse Town gates.

"Yeah, we did," Sora said.

"Tell me, did a Keyhole appear?" Leon asked.

"Yeah," Sora said. "The Keyblade locked it as soon as it appeared."

"How did you know about them?" Peach asked.

"Well, every world out there has a Keyhole, probably this one too…" Aerith said.

"What do you mean? Is this how we'll save all the worlds?" Sora asked. Excitement edged into his voice that what happened on his islands had already been prevented on a handful of worlds.

"I can't say for sure, just that it was in Ansem's Report," Aerith said.

"So what do the Heartless do in the Keyhole anyways that allows them to destroy the world?" Sora asked.

"They enter in through it and somehow do something to the core of the world to destroy it. We'll need more of those reports to be sure of what they do," Leon said. "The Keyblade is the only thing that can seal it."

"Which must be why Mario sent us to find Sora…" Peach realized.

"So we'll just travel the worlds and keep an extra good eye on Sora, right?" Tippi asked. "That way we can make sure the worlds stay safe."

"So do you know anybody who can install Power Stars into the Starshroom?" Luigi asked.

"You can try Cid. He might know something," Leon said.

"Huh, okay," Sora said. "Thanks for letting us know!"

The group began to walk off towards the shop Sora had first entered. "Hey Cid!"

"Kid, I see you found some friends to travel with," Cid said.

"Yeah, and we were hoping you could install a power star into the Starshroom for us," Peach said. "If you don't mind that is."

"I'll do it, just give me a bit of time first," Cid said. "Oh, by the way, some guy was asking for you and a person named Tippi. He said to send him your way if you came in to stop by."

"Really?" Tippi asked. "I suppose we should go visit them. Where are they staying?"

"A house in the back of Traverse Town's third district," Cid said. "You won't be able to miss it."

"Alright, we'll go visit, thanks for all the help!" Sora said.

"Don't mention it, and you might want to check out the Gizmo Shop too, it's been doing some weird stuff."

"Alright," Sora said. "Come on guys, let's go!"

* * *

 

"This is the house, right?" Peach asked and indicated the dark house in front of them.

"I think so…" Sora said. "You don't see any others, right?"

"I don't…" Tippi said. "We should go in." The three and Tippi went in. Sora went to follow, but stopped when he heard a voice.

"There's something about this musty place…" Sora turned around in surprise to see Kairi. She walked passed him. "It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls. Remember?"

"Kairi?" Sora asked. She couldn't have been here too; she was just in the Bitlands not too long ago. There was no way she could have been here now.

"Sora, are you okay?" Peach asked. He blinked, and as suddenly as Kairi had appeared, she'd vanished.

"I must be seeing things…" he mumbled. He walked inside after the others and smiled. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"That's good. Unfortunately our visitor isn't here," Tippi said.

"I'm afraid you're wrong Tippi dear. I'm in the back, oh ho ho!" A voice said. Moments later a man with a blue cloak emerged. The cloak shrouded his entire face in darkness, the only thing visible were two yellow eyes and a white beard. Tippi gasped.

"What's wrong? Is it a kind of Heartless?" Sora asked.

"Sora, that's no Heartless! That's Merlon!" Tippi said.

"It's cool to finally meet you Merlon!" Luigi said.

"The pleasure is all mine, heroes," Merlon said. "Come, we have much to discuss."

"So what do you want to talk about then? Tell us already!" Bowser shouted.

"I wish to tell you about the reason the world is about to be destroyed," Merlon said. "And teach Sora a thing or two."

"You know our names?" Sora asked.

"They were written in the Light Prognosticus, had I decoded them earlier, I could have searched you out much quicker," Merlon said. "Now, have any of you heard of the Light Prognosticus, besides Tippi of course?" Nobody raised their hands or said anything. "Very well, I will start from the beginning.

"The Light Prognosticus was created fifteen hundred years ago by my ancestors in the Tribe of Ancients. It was created to go against a dark book, the Dark Prognosticus. The dark book was said to have the secrets to gaining an ancient power, but one often lost their sanity when looking within the pages. The book predicted one day, a member from the ancient's sister tribe, the Tribe of Darkness, would come and bring ruin in their quest for ultimate power, the power of Kingdom Hearts. Four heroes will come and return him to light, the key, a ferocious monster, a man in green, and a woman of unknown importance. I currently deciphered three of the names within the Light Prognosticus about these heroes, yours, Bowser's, and Luigi's. The woman's name still remains shrouded in mystery, but I believe she is the princess."

"So what can you tell us about the Prognosticus's wielder?" Peach asked.

"Only that to risk opening the book, he was desperate with no brighter option," Merlon said. "Unfortunately, I know little else at this time. But now, Sora, it's time for you to learn magic."

"Me?" Sora asked.

"As the Keyblade's owner, it's important you learn to fight against the enemies in more ways than just hitting them with the Keyblade. I will teach you the basics, it will be up to you to learn the rest."

"Go for it!" Peach said. "You could become such a better fighter."

"Alright, I'll give it a shot!" Sora said. A dummy emerged from the floor moments later.

"I want you to set it on fire," Merlon said as he looked at Sora's blank expression. "There are many different ways to channel the elements, but some work better than others. You should try to focus on the warmth and flame of a fire, summon that feeling inside of you. When it fills you up, release the flames on the target, and a fireball should hit it."

_"Concentrate on the warmth. You'll eventually get the flame to light…"_

Tippi looked around for the source of the mysterious voice. If she hadn't known any better, she might have thought it sounded familiar, and caring. She turned back to Sora after a moment to watch him master the spell. It took several minutes of concentration, but an orange fireball emerged from the tip of Sora's Keyblade. "Excellent. You've learned fire," Merlon said. "Now it's time to learn ice."

* * *

 

Twenty minutes and five spells later (fire, ice, lightning, wind, and health, known as Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, and Cure respectively), Sora and the others exited the house of Merlon back to the third district.

"If you can learn magic that quickly, then we'll be saving the worlds even faster," Luigi said as they walked.

"Yeah!" Sora said. He looked to Tippi. "Hey, is everything alright Tippi?"

"I'm fine…I…did any of you hear something besides Merlon when Sora was learning magic, like a voice?" Tippi asked.

"No…" Sora shook his head. The others did as well. "Sorry."

"It must be like when you thought you saw Kairi in Bitlands," Tippi said. "We're just both…a little stressed I suppo-Heartless!" No sooner than Tippi had shouted her warning about the Shadows surrounding them did a dark sword shaped like a bat's wing slashed through each one, taking them down as quickly as possible.

"There you are. What's going on?" Sora would recognize that voice anywhere. It was his best friend's after all.

"Riku!" Sora shouted. He ran up to Riku and started stretching his mouth.

"Hey, hey," he slapped away Sora's hand, "cut it out."

"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" Sora asked.

"I hope not. Took forever to find you," Riku said.

"Riku!" He smiled. A moment later, Sora realized there was a lack of a familiar red head he'd been seeing everywhere he went. "Wait a second, where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you?" Riku watched as Sora's face fell in disappointment. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now." A Heartless formed in the middle of Riku's statement. "We'll all be together again soon. Just leave everything to me, I know this-" he was interrupted as Sora burst through, Keyblade in hand, and destroyed the Heartless in one blow.

"Leave it to who?" Sora asked. His voice filled with pride at the idea that he was able to even slightly show up his old friend.

"Sora, what did you-"

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help," Sora said.

"Who are they?" Riku asked.

"My name's Tippi. It's nice to meet you," Tippi said. "These are Princess Peach, Luigi, and B-"

"We visited so many places and worlds," Sora's eyes were lit up with excitement while Riku's filled with jealousy, "looking for you."

"Really, well, what do you know?" bitterness and resentment seemed to seep into his voice. "I never would have guessed."

"Sora's a Keyblade Master too!" Luigi said.

"It was pretty shocking when we first met him, but it's very believable now," Peach said. "He's become such a great fighter now."

"What's that mean?" Sora asked.

"So this is called a Keyblade." While Sora wasn't looking, Riku must have taken it from his hands. He examined it with minor interest.

"Huh? Hey, give it back," Sora said.

Riku looked at Sora nervously for a moment; he backed away before tossing the Keyblade. "Catch!"

"Okay, so you're coming with us, right?" Sora asked. "We've got this awesome rocket, wait 'till you see it!"

"No, he can't come!" Bowser said and crossed his arms.

"What?" Sora asked.

"Forget it!" Bowser insisted.

"Oh come on, he's Sora's friend. Please Bowser?" Peach asked.

"He's gone," Tippi said. This attracted all three of their attentions.

"Riku?" Sora asked. No response came. "Nice going."

"Sora, it's okay," Tippi said. "I mean, at least he's safe, right?"

"Right, and maybe we'll run into Kairi soon too!" Sora said. They walked around the third district to find a small house that had been locked before.

"Let's go in," Peach said and opened the door. Leon, Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie were inside the blue walls of the inside of the house.

"Hey guys," Sora said.

"You visited that strange guy, right?" Cid asked.

"We did visit, and I learned some magic," Sora said with pride.

"Good. You're going to need it as you continue this journey," Leon said.

"What do you mean he'll need it? Sora's been proving himself just fine on this journey." Luigi defended Sora, which considering how not ten minutes ago he had been mocked by the trio from Mushroom Kingdom to Riku was interesting.

"It's…you've heard of the dark sorcerer Count Bleck, haven't you?" Aerith asked. The four shook their heads.

"I'm afraid we haven't. Is he bad?" Tippi asked.

"Bad. He's allied with the Heartless," Leon explained. "When our home was destroyed, he had a hand in it. Don't take him lightly."

"We won't," Luigi said.

"We think Count Bleck has most of the pages to Ansem's report," Cid added. "Anyways, the Power Star's been added, so you guys are all set to go."

"Really, took you long enough." Bowser growled. The others glared.

"We've been busy too!" Peach said. "Cid was doing us a favor, so be happy he helped us at all."

"Right, you all remember the bell that rang earlier, right?" Aerith asked.

"Of course," Sora said.

"There's an old legend associated with it, and perhaps you might find something there," Leon said. "It wouldn't hurt to check it out before you leave."

"Okay, we can look!" Sora said. The heroes proceeded to leave the house.

* * *

 

"How could he just do that?" Riku asked. His voice was filled with anger and betrayal as he watched Sora talk with the others. "How can he abandon Kairi and I like that."

"Count Bleck is truly sorry the Keyblade Master has done this," a blue skinned creature said. He wore a while top hat and cloak, and his eyes glowed red. He had hands, but no arms, legs, or feet. "He did not anticipate that your company would not be welcome."

"Yeah, well, you were right count. He obviously doesn't care anymore."

"Count Bleck's offer of joining his minions still stands. If you would like it you may have a standing among us," Count Bleck said.

"I-" Riku sighed. "I'll join if you'll help me find Kairi."

"Count Bleck promises his unending aid."Count Bleck lowered the brim of his hat over his face to avoid Riku's face. "I don't want to see another soul go through the pain of losing the only thing that matters…"

* * *

 

"So what do you guys think happens when we ring the bell anyways?" Sora asked.

"Probably we get loads of treasure." Bowser laughed with excitement at the thought of a few hundred gold coins falling from the sky and into their laps.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Tippi said. Sora hit the bell with his Keyblade and a loud clang resided. Besides that, nothing happened.

"Rip-off!" Bowser growled.

"Maybe it's just broken," Peach said.

"Or you just have to hit it more than once. My bro always says that most fights take hits in multiples of three, so maybe this bell requires three hits," Luigi said.

"Worth a shot." Sora hit the bell another two times with his Keyblade. Each time, a loud clang emerged from its depths. But on the third time, a glow emerged on the other side of the second district. The fountain background turned around twice, revealing a Keyhole.

"Come on! Let's seal it now!" Peach said. They jumped off the roof and onto the ground to begin running towards the Keyhole when a bulky figure landed in front of them. The figure was pale with a brown beard and bald head.

"Yeh aren't takin' another step closer," the figure said.

"We need to seal that if we're going to stop the Heartless. You might not realize this, but we're the heroes," Tippi said.

"I know exactly who yeh are! Yeh're the 'eroes who want to stop the Count and 'is goal. Whoever wants to defeat the Count 'as to go through me, O'Chunks."

"O what?" Sora asked.

"I think this oaf is one of Count Bleck's minions…" Tippi said. "You'd think he'd be able to get better."

" 'ey! Watch what yeh say 'bout the Count! 'e is one of the greatest counts out there and I'm 'is 'ighest quality minion."

"I'd hate to see what the other minions are like then…" Luigi said. "But get out of the way! We don't have time for this anyways."

"I don' plan on movin' from this spot," O'Chunks said.

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Sora summoned his Keyblade and ran to hit the giant oaf with it. O'Chunks grabbed the Keyblade and threw Sora away before striking a victory pose. While he was still in his pose, Bowser used his fire breath on O'Chunks. He then proceeded to use his claws before the koopa king two was thrown back. He ducked into his shell as Peach pulled out her parasol and hit him back towards O'Chunks. The shell hit the minion and knocked him backwards several feet. Luigi ran up to him and performed a super jump before landing on O'Chunks's head. He punched him in the face as soon as he landed. The enraged minion proceeded to charge after the three, causing them to jump out of the way before Sora struck him from behind with his Keyblade. The Keyblade was promptly knocked from Sora's hand and reappeared in a bright flash of light. Seeing that close combat wouldn't work in this situation, Sora lifted up his Keyblade and a ball of ice formed at the top. "Freeze!" Five snowflakes left the Keyblade's top, the center one hitting O'Chunks and knocking him into another round of Bowser's flames.

"Argh! I give! I give!" O'Chunks shouted. "Yeh've bested me this time, 'eroes, but next time yeh won't be so lucky…eh…whate'er yer name was again."

"His name's Sora," Tippi said.

"Right, well, Sora, next time yeh won't get so lucky. Chunks away!" In a flash the man was gone, leaving Sora standing in front of the now unguarded Keyhole.

"Quick, seal it." A bright light flashed out of the Keyblade and a click sounded before the Keyhole was now sealed.

"You know, what if the count that took Zelda away and sent the green girl was Count Bleck?" Peach asked.

"Then our job will be easier," Tippi said. "I believe now it's time to move onto the next world."


	11. Chapter 11

"New world!" Sora said.

"Land us down," Luigi said. Sora nodded and pressed down on the button to create a green portal to the outside of the world. They landed in a forest, filled with green trees with bright red apples hanging from the branches.

"I wonder what kind of world this is," Peach said. Before she could find out more, the four were surrounded by small mouse like creatures of varying colors. "Oh?"

One of the mice, a blue one, pulled out a large bomb and held it in its ears. "Give us your treasures and we won't use this." A much larger mouse emerged, this one dressed in red with dark blue skin.

"Treasure? We don't have any-"

"Ya sure, your princess's crown is pretty nice and would count as one." The larger mouse pointed at Peach. The smaller ones all started to squeak in agreement.

"I'm afraid I can't give you my crown. I'm sorry, but stealing from people is just…rude…" Peach said. Her hand opened up from a fist.

"I guess we'll have to steal it," the mouse said. The smaller mouse with the bomb threw its bomb at her as another stole her crown, but before it could hit a pink ball jumped in the way, sucking up the bomb in the process.

"Poyo poyo!" the pink ball, as it turned out, was a strange creature, perfectly round with arms, two red shoes, and a face. A light blue hat formed on its head as it threw the bomb at the mice.. "Poyo!"

The mice started backing away slightly before outright fleeing. Their boss glared at Kirby before teleporting away.

"Thank you," Sora said. "I'm Sora."

The pink puffball looked confused. "Oyo?"

"No, Sora," Sora said and pointed to himself. "Who are you?"

"Kirby! Kirby!" the puffball jumped around in excitement.

"Kirby?" Peach picked him up and smiled. "He's absolutely adorable."

"Not only that, he's a powerful Star Warrior," Tippi said.

"That thing's a warrior?" Bowser asked.

"Kirby!" Kirby cheered and nodded.

"Well, he's a baby warrior anyways," Tippi said, adding to her earlier statement. "He fights by sucking up the opponents weapon and absorbing their power to use."

"Really, so this little guy can do anything then?" Luigi asked.

"That is correct," a voice said. They turned around to see a dark blue version of what Kirby was with a silver mask on his face. A cape flowed out from behind him, but what worried them was the yellow glow of his eyes, a trait that they had begun associating with the Heartless. "It is this ability that makes him one of the strongest Star Warriors."

"Oyo!" Kirby looked excited at the knight's arrival.

"You know Kirby?" Peach asked him.

"I test him to see if he is ready. Nothing more." The knight walked up to Kirby and looked him over. "At the moment, he has become Bomb Kirby, however I would be interested to find out what would happen if he managed to get copy the powers of a Keyblade."

Sora summoned out his Keyblade and looked it over. "If Kirby managed to use this?"

"Yes."

"So wait, who are you? And who was the guy who attacked us?" Luigi asked.

"The person who attacked you was the leader of the Squeak Squad, Daroach. A treasure hunting group Kirby put a stop to when they stole the Dark Nebula. They still steal and hunt treasure although they haven't interfered with us in a while," the knight said, purposely avoiding the first question.

"What about you?" Bowser asked. "That doesn't tell us anything about you?" Before he could finish the question, the knight had vanished.

"Who was he?" Peach asked.

"Meta Knight, a powerful Star Warrior who protects the world of Dreamland, he probably even knew about the fact that we're dimensional travelers," Tippi said. "He probably wanted to see if we could be trusted and had no real intention of interfering…"

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby pointed towards the direction Daroach ran off to; then to Peach's head.

"That's right, we have to get my crown back before we leave," Peach said with a nod.

"Then let's go get it!" Sora started running off deeper into the forest, shortly followed by the others. Not ten steps in were they surrounded by the Heartless. Some were the former varieties of Shadows, while others were similar to the mice from the Squeak Squad, except darker shades and with the thorny red heart on their backs. Another new Heartless amongst their ranks was a dark red Heartless with a single eye, inside the eye being the same heart on the other species.

"The mice are Squeaker Heartless. They simply jump to attack, unlike the Squeak Squad members we saw earlier," Tippi said. "The red Heartless are Waddle Doo Da Heartless, and fight much like creatures known as Waddle Doos. Their main attack is a laser that emerges from their eyes."

"Poyo!" Kirby lost the hat as quickly as it came before suctioning up one of the Waddle Doo Das. He gained a red and yellow jesters hat with white tips and a blue tip staff. Even his coloring changed as he went from pink to orange. He raised the staff and fired it off at one of the Heartless, destroying it in one orange blast. The others stared in shock for a moment.

"Stop staring and start fighting!" Bowser shouted and began slashing at the Heartless with his claws. Shadows fell to his claws in a puff of dark smoke before he turned to a Squeaker and clawed upwards and effectively destroyed it in midair. Peach and Sora joined in the assault, hitting and slashing at several of the Shadows and Squeakers with their respective weapons. Luigi began firing off green fireballs in rapid assault and hit several Waddle Doo Das, meanwhile standing at a far enough distance to avoid the orange beams they fired.

Sora wasn't so lucky. He turned around to face on and nearly met with a beam in the face. Peach lifted her parasol in time to protect them both from the majority of the damage from the beam.

"Hey, watch it!" Bowser released a large fireball at the Waddle Doo Da, effectively killing it in one hit and releasing a pink heart from the end of the fight.

"Oyo!" Kirby puffed up and began running off.

"Does he know where the Squeak Squad hides?" Sora asked.

"Who knows, but now we have to go after him," Bowser grumbled. They ran off slightly deeper into the forest where the Squeak Squad had set up camp, Kirby stood inside it.

"Long time no see Kirby," Daroach said. "I see you brought friends."

"Poyo! Poyo poyo!" Kirby pointed at the four heroes. "Kirby! Kirby!"

"Hm," Daroach looked at them. "You're friends of Kriby's I see."

"Huh, oh yeah," Sora said. Daroach threw the crown to Peach.

"Why did you return my crown?" Peach asked. Confusion laced her voice as she replaced the crown on her head.

"I've learned a long time ago not to steal from Kirby."

"What a pity, I was longing for a fight?" All of them looked around the area in confusion. "Ah well, can't say I am surprised."

"What?" Sora asked. "Show yourself!"

A jester clad in purple and yellow poncho appeared. Yellow bells dangled from the tips of his hat, the purple ends. He wore a mask, completely covering his face, however not hiding his eyes, one yellow and one black. The mask itself was black and white with a creepy smile lingering on his face. "If you insist."

"Hey, who are you?" Luigi shouted.

"Who am I? I am the master of dimensions, the pleaser of crowds. I am Dimentio, Count Bleck's jester" He took a bow. "And if I am correct, you are the heroes who pester the count like a rose thorn stuck in some poor idiots thumb."

"Yeah, that's us. Do you think you can take us?" Sora asked.

Dimentio laughed. "Who said anything about fighting you? I'll leave that to Daroach."

"Why would I fight them?" Daroach asked.

"Because of this." He smirked and teleported an ornate dark blue chest to his hand.

"That's…"

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby pointed to the chest in a panic.

"So you recognize what's in the box then?" Dimentio laughed. "Excellent, I'll leave you to it." He opened the treasure chest. "Ciao." Dimentio disappeared as a dark cloud emerged from the treasure chest and swarmed Daroach. The dark creature sent a pulse of dark aura at Peach before she had time to pull out her parasol, knocking her unconscious.

"Peach!" Sora reached his hand out for her before the possessed Daroach made an angry growl.

"Worry about her later, you have to take him out," Tippi said.

"Poyo!" Kirby lost his beam Kirby power-up and turned to Sora's Keyblade. He suctioned the magical weapon up in an instant. Of course, the sword would return to his hand in an instant, but the weapon did transform Kirby. Now the Star Warrior was still pink, but wore a silver crown on his head. A key-shaped necklace dangled around his neck and a miniature version of the Kingdom Key was in his hand.

"Woah!" Sora looked at Kirby in surprise.

"That's Dark Daroach, a version of Daroach possessed by the Dark Star. He teleports around mostly and uses dark aura attacks to attack, so be careful."

"Right." Sora nodded to Tippi and ran to attack Dark Daroach, his Keyblade slicing into the mouse just as he teleported away. He reappeared moments later to attack the whole group with a dark aura pulse. Bowser was able to duck inside his shell, but the others were unable to defend themselves from the attack and were knocked back several feet, Sora almost hitting a tree. Bowser attempted to claw at him, but the attack did very little in terms of damage and simply put Bowser in hitting range for another attack, blowing Bowser away immediately.

"It's up to you two!" Luigi shouted to Sora and Kirby after realizing normal attacks did no good. Sora looked at Kirby and nodded before charging at Daroach. The attack hit him and he lifted up his Keyblade just fast enough to protect himself from the dark aura attack. He threw his Keyblade at Daroach's head and the Keyblade returned to his head after missing, however distracting the mouse enough for Kirby to get a shot in at him. Kirby fired a Fire spell out of the tip of his tiny Keyblade which hit Daroach directly.

"Thunder!" Sora used his newly acquired magic to hit Daroach in the head with a multitude of tiny lightning bolts. Several of them hit while others missed as he teleported away right into a hit from Kirby's Keyblade. The hit knocked him back before Sora and Kirby locked eyes. Sora nodded slightly and the two charged at Daroach while he was town, Sora slashing from the front and Kirby slashing from the back. Daroach fell, the dark cloud leaving him immediately. The Squeak Squad leader rendered unconscious.

"Poyo!" At Kirby's command, Sora pointed his Keyblade at the dark cloud before it could possess another or form a true form. It dissolved as a beam of light shot out of his Keyblade and hit it directly.

"I commend you, Keybearer, for your impressive show." Meta Knight jumped off a cliff.

Sora raised his arms behind his head and smiled. "Thanks, but Kirby helped out a lot as well."

"I see," Meta Knight said.

Kirby started looking around for something. "Poyo?"

"What's wrong Kirby?" Sora asked. "Is something missing."

"Poyo! Poyo!" He jumped up and down and indicated Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi.

"Uhh, guys, where's Peach?" Sora asked.

"She should be right-what?" Where Luigi had pointed was nothing but pressed down grass and an empty space.

"Where did Peach go?" Bowser growled in anger. Nobody had an answer.

"I think I know…" Tippi said suddenly. "Remember what the green girl said…how they needed Peach too?"

"You don't think they got her too?" Sora asked.

"I…I do…"

"Well then, I guess I have to travel with you all." Bowser looked away. "After all, how am I supposed to save Peach from Count Bleck so I can kidnap her myself!"

"You have a one track mind…" Luigi shook his head. "But you're right. Now we gotta work twice as hard so we can save the princess and find Mario and Sora's friends."

"Then let's hurry!" Sora ran through the forest without a second glance. The others followed.

* * *

 

"Not such a successful plan Dimmy, the Keyblade Master and his friends beat that possessed mouse guy," Mimi said with a laugh.

"Actually, Mimi, it was quite a success as the goal was to distract them from the unconscious princess long enough for our new recruit to swoop in like an owl eagerly going after its prey," Dimentio said. Riku shivered slightly as Dimentio looked at him with interest, most of the minions went from okay to pretty cool, but there was something about Dimentio that creeped Riku out.

"Yes, thank you for that," Riku said. "And I did manage to get Peach."

"A very good job indeed Riku," Count Bleck said. "Nastasia, have you located the girl yet?"

"Yeah, she located onto Mobius, so we're gonna have to call in that favor from Eggman and have him pick her up, k?" Nastasia asked.

"Girl?" Riku didn't quite understand what they were going for.

"The one you were searching for, Kairi," Count Bleck said. "Count Bleck figured that while you helped him, he would help you."

Riku nodded. "We're going to save Kairi?"

"We shall depart immediately for Mobius," Count Bleck said. "Prepare yourself Riku." Count Bleck teleported out of the room, and Riku walked out shortly afterwards.


	12. Chapter 12

_Sora and Riku were walking along the beach on Destiny Islands. Sora was ahead of Riku, pointing to a small waterfall. The two couldn't have been much older than five. "It's true, I saw it with my own eyes!"_

" _You sure you didn't just hear it this time?" Riku was doubtful of whatever it was Sora said he saw._

" _What difference does it make? There's a huge monster in there I tell you!" Sora shouted._

" _All right. Suppose there really is a real monster…think we can beat it by ourselves Sora?" Riku asked the question like it was a challenge._

" _No problem! Let's do it!" He stopped talking at a sound that sounded almost like a roar. "Listen! There! Can you hear it growling?"_

" _Shh, quiet. We've got to be careful." Riku lead the way into the cave, followed by Sora. Nothing was inside. "See that? It was just the wind making that noise."_

" _Aw man, I wish it was a monster." Sora sounded disappointed. He looked around the cave, his eyes locking on a small brown wooden door. "Hold on! What's that over there?"_

_Riku investigated it. "A window or a door?" He pulled on it to find out what was on the other side, but it didn't appear to move an inch. "It won't open."_

" _Geez, is that really all that's in here?" Sora asked._

" _What do you expect in a boring place like this?" Riku asked. He appeared lost in thought for a moment. "Hey, Sora."_

" _Hm?"_

" _When we grow up, let's get off this island." Riku was smiling. "We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"_

" _Sure, but isn't there anything fun to do now?" Sora asked. He was kind of bored. "Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house?"_

* * *

 

"Right! Sora! Go right!" Luigi shouted at the Keyblade Master, snapping Sora out of his memory, and fired another beam at a rock as the Starshroom dodged another piece of space debris. The ship lunged right, narrowly avoiding a Heartless ship outside.

"What's with all of the space junk?" Bowser asked.

Luigi fired another beam at a piece heading right towards them. "Maybe with Count Bleck holding onto Rosalina, space hasn't been cleaned up well."

"I don't think that's-Look out!" Tippi pointed at the window as another asteroid, twice as large as the prior ones soared into their path.

"I don't think I can dodge it!" Sora pulled up on the controls in an effort to dodge the blow, but it did nothing as the ship took a direct hit. It began spiraling downward in the direction of a small portion of land below.

"Aim for that, we can worry about leaving later!" Luigi pointed at the land. Sora nodded and activated the landing controls as quickly as possible before touching down on the small island amongst space.

The world they landed on was dark to say the least. The whole area was covered in shadows with littered pieces of brick wall all around the area. It was depressing to say the least. "What…caused this place to be like this?" Tippi asked.

"It's depressing, isn't it?" A bitter laugh sounded behind them. The group turned around to see a young woman with black hair and dark blue skin. "A world eaten by the Heartless, but unable to die…that's the only fate of this place."

"How is that even possible? Don't the Heartless destroy the worlds they consume?" Sora asked.

"A protective spell summoned by the hand that destroyed it." The woman walked up to them. "The question is, what are four world travelers doing at a world so destroyed? All the safe happy worlds destroyed? Boring?"

"Anna, stop it!" A blue skinned boy ran up to the girl. His hair was a dark blue and caused Tippi a sad pang of familiarity. "Don't hurt them."

"Damien! Get back! I'll deal with these intruders. You stay in the shelter!" The woman, Anna, insisted.

"But-" Damien was shushed before he could get another say in. He looked at each of the newcomers with pleading eyes before settling them on Tippi. His eyes went wide. "Timpani! Help me out! Tell Anna I'm not ten anymore!"

"Timpani?" Sora asked. "Who's that?"

"Get your eyes checked Damien, that's not her and you know it." Anna frowned at him in disapproval. "Now let me take care of them."

"We don't mean any harm. We only need to hide out here until the debris disappears," Luigi said.

Anna looked each of them over before sighing. "Fine. Welcome to the Fragmented Kingdom, former homeworld to the Tribe of Darkness."

"You don't have to tell her that, it was her homeworld too you know?" Damien glared at Anna, who glared back.

"Ignore my little brother. He's a bit crazy, been that way since we lost his brother a few years back," she said.

"So wait, who's that Timpani girl he thinks Tippi is?" Bowser asked.

"My brother's dead girlfriend, not Damien's, the other brother's," Anna said.

"She really is!" Damien insisted. "I know you don't believe in my aura capabilities, but they're nearly identical to each other. Timpani's really there standing in front of you!"

"I'm afraid I'm not Timpani," Tippi said. She fluttered right in front of Damien's face. "My name's Tippi. I've been a Pixl for as long as I remember, and I'm afraid it's a bit odd for a Pixl to date a Tribe of Darkness, isn't it?"

"But…" Damien looked away. "You have to be her! Nobody else could have an aura like that! If Blumiere finds out he can come home!" He ran off in anger, causing Anna to sigh.

"I'm really sorry about him. He's always been a bit odd, but he and Blumiere were really close."

"Hey, how could he go tell this Blumiere if he's dead?" Sora asked in confusion.

"Blumiere…he's alive, but like an empty shell now…" Anna said. "If you don't mind, I don't really have the energy to go chasing after my little brother right now. Can you all go get him for me? There's not a lot left to the world, so you shouldn't need a guide to find him."

"Sure," Sora said. The others looked at him like he was nuts. "What? If she can't go find him, we have to."

"Fine!" Bowser growled and turned away. Tippi flew in front of the group as they started running along the dark wasteland of a world. Not even the Heartless appeared to fight them, nothing left of the world to destroy, or perhaps a result of the protection spell around the world was responsible for keeping them away.

"You should watch." Damien's voice drifted to their ears. "If you're not careful, you'll lose yourself to the darkness of your heart, your burden."

"My what?" Sora froze at the second voice.  _Was that…Riku?_

"The burden of your heart, your darkness," Damien said. "It pollutes your aura even now, it's as heavy as the other boy's burden, but unlike his, yours doesn't just bring strain, it brings destruction."

"Who are you anyways?" Riku asked, his voice tense. "Why does it matter to you if I fall?"

"Because darkness took away my brother, and I don't believe another innocent soul should be corrupted like that," Damien said.

"Damien?" Tippi fluttered into the area, much against her better judgment. For whatever reason, she didn't want to hear any more about his lost brother.

"Timpani, you followed!" Damien seemed overjoyed by Tippi's appearance while Riku looked slightly angry at the sight of the rainbow Pixl. "You believe me!"

"Actually…Anna sent us…" Tippi said. Sora and the others stepped out moments later.

"Riku, what are you doing here?" Sora asked.

Riku shrugged in an attempt to feign indifference. "Just talking with Damien here."

"You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?" Sora asked. His voice was filled with slight desperation in an attempt to learn any news about his missing friend.

"Maybe…" Riku smirked and grabbed Damien's arm.

"Hey!" Damien shouted and tried to swat at Riku, but Riku only grabbed on tighter. "Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

"Timpani! Help!" Damien shouted as he was carried away.

"Now you see why I didn't want him along. That brat just caused us a whole load of trouble," Bowser said.

Sora frowned. "He wasn't ever like this before…he's got to just be playing with us while he waits for the wreckage outside to become manageable to travel through." Even Sora knew the lie was false. But it didn't make sense that Riku would be acting like this at all.  _Is it possible that what Damien said was true and there really is a lot of darkness in his heart?_

"Well, we have to go after him. Even if we hadn't promised Anna to get Damien, we need to find out what Riku learned about Kairi now," Tippi said, "and why he's taunting us."

"Somehow, I have a feeling it's partially a certain Koopa's fault," Luigi said and looked at Bowser briefly before turning back to the others. "He went that way, right?" Everyone nodded. "Then that's where we'll go."

* * *

 

"Count Bleck demands to know why you are so fascinated with the Keybearer and his friends," Count Bleck said. Riku held up the unconscious Damien, almost missing the soft suction of air from the count.

"It wasn't to completely mess with Sora. This boy has the ability to see auras. He could sense where Kairi's heart is," Riku said.

"But you are still taunting him nonetheless," the count said. "And because of this you endanger yourself to the darkness. If you wish to remain going out and doing missions, you will learn to let go. You may be able to justify it by taking him, but that is not the true reason you are here and all of us know it."

"Trust me, I'll be fine," Riku said.

"Very well…said Count Bleck. You will be wise to heed this warning." Count Bleck teleported out of the area, leaving Riku and Damien behind. The heroes arrived as he teleported away, leaving Tippi with an odd feeling as she saw him disappear.

"Riku! What's the matter with you?" Sora asked. "What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days," Riku said. "Do you even want to save Kairi?"

Sora clenched his fists. How could Riku even think that he didn't want to save Kairi? "I do."

A group of Heartless surrounded Riku and the unconscious Damien, surprising even Riku. He summoned his sword instantly against the mixed group of primarily Shadows and Neoshadows. He was quickly overwhelmed as they swarmed the young boy. Two Neoshadows held Damien up to carry him away while Riku was left.

"We have to help!" Sora leaped into action. Summoning his Keyblade, he attacked the two that surrounded Riku almost instantly.

Riku gave a smirk, possibly even a half smile of thanks before turning towards the Heartless. "You up for this?"

"No problem. Let's do it!" Sora instantly leapt upon the Neo Shadows and started bashing in the one on the right with his Keyblade. The Keyblade caused them both to shift attention from Damien to Sora and released the boy to duck into shadows in the ground. The two shadows emerged behind Sora, one finding itself prey to Bowser's claws and the other to Riku's sword. Sora turned around and cut through the two Neo Shadows, causing them both to disappear into clouds of darkness. Luigi started firing fireballs at the Shadows to keep them from taking Damien before Riku's sword sliced clear through them. The sword disappeared moments later.

"Not bad," Riku said, and for a moment, it was like they were back at the islands, competing just to best the other once more. He hoisted Damien over his shoulder.

"Riku, give Damien back! He needs to return to his sister!" Sora shouted.

"A powerful Aura Reader like him?" Riku asked. "I don't think I can do that. Damien here could tell us where Kairi's heart is, and we could save her. This boy could be the key."

"That doesn't make it okay for you to just take him!" Tippi said.

"I never said I wouldn't give him back if we saved Kairi," Riku said with a glare in Tippi's direction. "Not that it matters, this isn't your decision, it's Sora's. What do you say Sora? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together."

Sora summoned out his Keyblade in response. "You think I'd join you in hurting somebody else?"

"Wasn't he mad at me for not letting Riku join earlier?" Bowser asked. Luigi glared Bowser, causing the turtle to shut up.

"What, you'd rather fight me over a boy you barely know?" Riku asked with a hint of surprise invading his voice.

"Barely know him or not, I don't need to know him to know that you've chosen the wrong side," Sora said.

Riku shook his head in disappointment. "And here I thought you would actually join me. Guess the count was right, there's no point lingering on you." He stepped away from Damien's body before teleporting away.

"Damien, are you okay?" Tippi flew over to him. "Damien!"

"Tim…pani?" Damien looked up, his eyes fogged over from pain. "You just missed him…Blumiere…" he fell unconscious once more. Everyone sighed in relief.

"At least Riku didn't kill him," Luigi said and picked up Damien. "We should carry him back to his sister now."

"Riku…" Sora looked down.

"Don't worry about it Sora, he'll come back eventually." Even Tippi's half hearted reassurances couldn't remove the doubts Damien's words to Riku had placed in his mind. It was so hard to believe that Damien's reading of Riku's aura was wrong after what he'd seen. Riku might come back eventually, but the question wasn't of when, it was whether or not it would be too late.

* * *

 

"He's safe," Anna said in relief as Luigi put Damien down. "How did he get hurt?"

One silent look between the four of them was all it took to know not to mention Riku. "We ran into some Heartless that caused us a little bit of trouble."

"I didn't think the Heartless would get through the protective spell. The only way they'd get in is…if he sent them…" Anna's voice grew angry. "That little-"

"Anna?" Damien's voice rang out. The boy sat up. "I'm fine. Blumiere was here."

"Yeah and it's because of that idiot of a brother of yours that you're hurt. The only way Heartless can get in here is if he sent them," Anna said.

"Blumiere wouldn't…" Tippi mumbled before stopping herself from speaking out. She didn't know who Blumiere was as far as she could remember, and it was bugging her, this instinct to protect him from his sister's accusations. Perhaps there was some credence to Damien's theory of her being Timpani, or at least somehow connected to the girl, after all.

"I don't suppose there's a Keyhole here though?" Sora asked, interrupting the siblings before Damien could get yelled at.

Anna shook her head. "It was destroyed a long time ago with most of this world. If you're sealing them, you're about five years too late."

"Sorry I asked…" Sora said.

"Anyways, we should get going now that the way looks clearer," Luigi said. "Sora's journey is to seal the Keyholes, and find his missing friends."

"They're closer than you think," Damien said before smiling. "I hope we meet again soon. Make sure nothing bad happens to Timpani."

"Err…right…" Sora waved. "Hope we meet again soon!"

* * *

 

"So Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?" Riku asked.

"It was unexpected, but what happened cannot be undone," Count Bleck said. He hid his face under the brim of his hat.

"And her heart was…"

"Taken by the Heartless when your homeworld was destroyed…said Count Bleck."

"Tell me! What can I do?" Riku asked. There had to be something he could do to bring Kairi back.

Count Bleck hesitated. "There…is something…the Dark Prognosticus tells of a land where all hearts reside after they are gone. This world, Kingdom Hearts, could hold her heart."

"Then let's get going towards it!" Riku said. "The sooner we get to this world, the faster I can save Kairi!"

Count Bleck shook his head. "It isn't that simple. Seven pure hearts from seven maidens of light are required to access it. We currently have five in our possession, but two are missing. If we can get inside, their hearts might be inside."

"Their?" Riku asked. He looked at the count with interest. Had the count lost somebody too? Was that why he was going on this quest, to get to Kingdom Hearts and bring back the person he lost?

"Nevermind," Count Bleck snapped. "The other princesses must still be found before this plan can progress." He left the room, forgetting about his ability to teleport in his desire to leave Riku.

"Quick to snap, it appears the count is losing hope in his plan fast," Dimentio said and teleported into the room.

Riku narrowed his eyes, he never did trust the creepy jester when it came to anything. "What do you want?"

"That is not the way to greet someone who wants to give you more power," Dimentio said.

"More power?" Riku asked.

Dimentio nodded. "The power to control the Heartless of course." He snapped his fingers and a dark aura surrounded Riku. "Now I must take my leave before the count returns, ciao."


	13. Chapter 13

"Is it just me, or does that world look really…cheerful?" Bowser growled as they arrived at their destination.

"Not just cheerful, this world is different than most," Tippi said, attracting all the attention towards her. "This world is a special world; its inhabitants are mostly Pokemon?"

"Poke-whats?" Sora asked.

"Do you remember Red from the Smash Arena?" Luigi asked. Sora nodded. "He's a Pokemon trainer, his attacks aren't so much as physical as much as he sends out Pokemon to do battle."

"That was what those ball things held!" Sora realized. "And this world's filled with creatures that fight."

"Only inhabited by them," Tippi said. "A stray human may come by, but it's a Pokemon world for a reason. If we show up…it'll be reasonably hard to stay hidden as we are. Bowser and I might be able to pass off as Pokemon, but you two would never be able to succeed at that task."

"Is there a spell I can learn to change us all into Pokemon then?" Sora asked.

" _There are shapeshifting spells, right? Why can't I just use one so I no longer look human."_

" _It's a difficult spell that I don't even know fully, but perhaps I could teach you it."_

"Again…" Tippi murmured.

Sora waved his hand in front of the Pixl. "Um, Tippi?"

"Huh? Oh!" Tippi zoned back in. "You wanted a shapeshifting spell, right?"

"That would work, why, do you know one?" Luigi asked.

"Yes, but it's difficult and I don't know if I can use it on multiple people…" Somewhere deep inside of her, Tippi knew that was a lie. It wasn't that she didn't know, she couldn't remember. What scared her about most was the fact that memories were resurfacing whenever she was around Sora, memories that couldn't have had anything to do with him, and she didn't know why. "I'll try…" She flew around each of them. "The spell has been cast to activate whenever we arrive on a new world in which we'll need to change to fit in."

"That simple?" Luigi asked.

"Pixls are filled with magic of the Tribe of Ancients…so long as I know a spell within reason, I could perform it," Tippi said. "It would be hard for Sora to change himself and you, but not that hard for me."

"Then let's go down!" Sora cheered.

"Great…" Bowser said before they were put onto the new world.

The area they landed in was a town square filled with various shops and Pokemon of all shapes and sizes. A black ghost Pokemon with a skull for a face stood in front of a building shaped like its head, much like a pink Pokemon with an egg in a pouch on its stomach. A yellow and blacked striped Pokemon with four wires coming from its back stood in front of another building with another building nearby like an animal skull. On the other side of the bridge were two more shops, the first manned by two chameleon like Pokemon in green and purple while the other was run by a brown kangaroo Pokemon.

Sora himself was a small brown dog Pokemon with two pointed ears and a paler brown scruff around his neck. A fluffy brown tail extended right into Luigi's face, a green dog like Pokemon with yellow accents and a pointed snout. Bowser was a turtle like Pokemon with a dark black shell and a red face and feet. Tippi didn't change at all, remaining her usual rainbow Pixl self.

"Whoa cool! What are we?" Sora fluffed his tail up and looked at it with interest.

"You're an Eevee, Luigi's an Electrike, and Bowser is a Torkoal. I'm a afraid I won't be able to identify most of the Pokemon, or else you'll look really suspicious about not knowing Pokemon," Tippi said.

"That's fine, now let's g-" Sora started running only to hit a yellow mouse Pokemon with red blushes and black tipped ears. Its tail was shaped like a lightning bolt with a heart shaped tail.

"Ow!" The two said at the same time. The Pokemon looked embarrassed. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's fine," Sora said.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about, Sora's taken worse," Luigi said.

"We all have, but I should have watched out," the Pokemon said. "I'm Nicole."

"Nicole?" Sora asked. She nodded. "I'm Sora. These are Tippi, Luigi, and Bowser."

"It's nice to meet you all. Are you guys new to Treasure Town? I'm a bit new here too." The statement was followed by a nervous laugh.

"Hey Nicole, come on!" A green dinosaur like Pokemon ran up to Nicole, a leaf sat on her head. She stopped short when she saw the four heroes. "Who are they?"

"These are Sora, Luigi, Bowser, and Tippi. They're new to Treasure Town," Nicole said.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Megy," the dinosaur Pokemon said. "Did you, um, come in for the expedition?"

"Expedition?" Sora asked.

"To the Fogbound Lake!" Nicole answered. "Wigglytuff's guild is going, us included since we are apprentices, the expedition's tomorrow, we're here to get the supplies we need for the journey."

"Wigglytuff's guild?" Tippi asked.

"You guys must really be new to the area, you're as clueless as Nicole was when she first woke up," Megy said with a slight smile. "Wigglytuff runs a guild dedicated to training exploration teams like us."

"Huh?" Sora asked.

Nicole smiled at him slightly. "You guys have to be like me…I mean, humans or um…"

"Wait, what?" Tippi asked. They all looked at each other.

"Nicole was once a human, I found her on the beach as a Pikachu," Megy said.

"Imagine my surprise when I found a talking Chikorita…you all must have been in shock too when I ran into you," Nicole said.

"Uh…" Luigi looked for a way to change the subject rapidly. "You were talking about an expedition?"

"Oh yeah! If you guys were planning to go it might be hard to get on since we go tomorrow, but you can talk with Wigglytuff!" Nicole said.

"Yeah, well, we've done good jobs of getting into things all the time," Sora said.

"He's right, take us to this Wigglytuff and we'll be on the mission by the end of the day."

* * *

 

"Hello there." When they'd asked to meet Wigglytuff, the one thing Sora wasn't expecting of the guy was for him to be a giant pink bunny. "Are you the friends Nicole and Megy talked to me about?"

"Uhh…" Sora shook his head clear of all the preconceptions he'd had of the guildmaster before arrival. "Yeah, I'm Sora, and these are Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi."

"And you all want to be a part of the expedition, right?" Wigglytuff asked. They all nodded eagerly. "Okay then. You all can join us."

"But Guildmaster-" A blue and yellow feathered parrot with a music note for a head tried to speak against it, but Wigglytuff laughed.

"Chatot, how could we turn down the Keyblade Master when he offers us his help," Wigglytuff said. "You'll make an excellent part of the mission, assuming you can fight as an Eevee."

"I'm sure he can," Luigi said.

Wigglytuff nodded. "Alrighty then friendly friends! Welcome to the expedition to Fogbound Lake. If you're ready, we can set off immediately. You'll be traveling with Team Cutie of course."

"Team…Cutie!?" Bowser looked at Wigglytuff with disgust. "What team has such a childish team name as that?"

"We do…" Nicole said quietly. They all turned to the Pikachu as she entered. "It was Megy's idea…since we're both adorable Pokemon and all…"

"I think it's a cute gimmick," Sora said. "After all, you two are pretty adorable."

Nicole gave Sora a grateful smile. "Let's get going! Megy's already planned our route!"

"What way are we going to go?" Sora looked at the map in Nicole's bag.

She pulled it out eagerly. Megy began to point to a path marked in green. "If we go by this way, we'll arrive at the Foggy Forest quickly, that's where the guild's setting up camp. Once we meet up with them, we can head straight for the lake!"

"Why are we standing around here then? We should head off right away!" Sora said.

"Wait a second, what are we going there for anyways?" Bowser asked.

"Treasure! Exploration! Mystery! Memory! Anything we can find and learn about the cave!" Nicole said.

"Memory?" Both Sora and Tippi asked at the same time.

"That's why we want to go…Nicole can't remember anything," Megy said. "We're hoping…" her voice dropped low. "We're hoping Uxie will be able to tell us what happened. It's rumored that Uxie has power over memories, along with the ability to erase them."

"Erase…memories…" Tippi felt hope blossom in her chest. She'd finally be able to learn the truth about herself, who she was before she became a Pixl if, what the duo said was true.

"Uh, Tippi?" Luigi looked at Tippi in confusion.

"It doesn't matter," Tippi said. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah!" Megy cheered.

Nicole took lead of the group as she lead them up to a dark cave. Just as they entered the cave, a swarm of Heartless surrounded them, none of the typical variety, but instead all Heartless that looked like different Pokemon, except in shades of dark blue with the Heartless emblem on their heads or sides. "What's wrong with these Pokemon?"

"We'll take care of them!" Sora summoned his Keyblade into his mouth.

"There are two new kinds of Heartless here. The first are Nido Heartless, dark blue and purple Heartless similar in appearance to a Nidoran. They fight using poisonous quills all over their body. The other type is a Mari, a Heartless much like the Pokemon Marill," Tippi said. "Bowser, you'll want to avoid the Maris, you're weak to them as they fight with water."

"Thanks for the warning!" Bowser growled and sent a long torrent of flames at several of the Nidos. A couple of Nidos ended up with burns all over their bodies. One fired a poison quill at him that stuck in his shell just as he ducked inside of it. Much to Bowser's surprise, he still felt pain at the quill's contact. Instead of reacting, he ducked inside of his shell and began spinning around rapidly, ricocheting into Heartless after Heartless, knocking several of them out before he slammed into the Mari, who blasted him with an army of bubbles that surprisingly did a lot of damage.

Seeing his friend in danger, Sora left the Nido he was fighting to Luigi (who blasted it with a lightning attack) and charged at the Mari, Keyblade in mouth. The Keyblade hit the Mari and succeeded in taking its attention off of Bowser. The Mari proceeded to use the same bubble attack on Sora, but it did much less damage then it did to the Koopa King. Sora slashed at the Mari once more before it got hit by a combination attack of electricity and razor sharp leaved. The Mari released a heart and vanished, revealing Nicole and Megy behind it, smiling victoriously.

"Woah!" Sora looked at them in surprise.

"We may look cute, but we can handle ourselves in a fight," Nicole said with a shrug.

"How is that even possible? I'd end up losing to cute little baby creatures," Bowser said.

"Actually, you'd probably win," Tippi said. "Fire beats grass."

"So, who wants to enter the cave now and get to the Foggy Forest?" Megy asked, quickly changing the subject before a fight ensued.

* * *

 

"You're a bit late Team Cutie, guests," Chatot said as they walked into the camp.

"We…uh…ran into trouble," Megy said.

"That's okay! The others are all up ahead, so you should hurry up and get to the cave," Wigglytuff said.

"Yeah, thanks," Luigi said and waved.

They began the walk into the forest and quickly arrived at a statue of a large Pokemon. "What Pokemon is this?" Nicole asked.

"Who knows?" Sora asked and looked at a red gem on the ground. "Hey, what's this?"

"Let me see!" Nicole picked it up and suddenly got a dizzy appearance, nearly falling over for a moment before the dizziness cleared.

"What was that about?" Luigi asked.

"D-dizzy spell. I can see the future and past with it…" Nicole shook her head to clear it of any remaining fog. "We need to put the stone in the statue's chest." She put it into a small indent and the sky cleared of most of the fog as a bright beam of sunlight filtered in. It revealed the entrance to a hidden cave.

"That has to lead to the Fogbound Lake!" Megy walked over to the cave with excitement. "We're almost at Uxie, so let's go."

"Right!" With excitement in the air, they all ran into the cave only to be shocked as a massive roar sounded from inside the cave and a Pokemon emerged. The Pokemon was large and red, nearly identical to the statue Nicole placed the red stone in.

"Who dares to try to enter the Fogbound Lake?" the Pokemon asked.

"We're hoping to-"

"I do not care why you are here. Turn back now."

"We can't do that Groudon," Nicole said. "I have to be here, to meet Uxie."

"There is only one fate for those who refuse to leave here," Groudon said. "Death." The ground beneath the six of them started shaking, instantly crippling Nicole to her knees and injuring both Bowser and Luigi heavily. Sora summoned his Keyblade and ran at Groudon, slashing the giant Pokemon with an attack it couldn't avoid. Bowser fired a powerful flamethrower, twice as powerful as normal simply for being in Groudon's presence. Megy, the one who took Groudon's attack best, fired out sharp leaves, pelting him with each hit and causing a surprising amount of damage. Luigi and Nicole both aimed powerful electric attacks at Groudon, but with minimal success, hardly slowing him down as he summoned the rocks from behind him and threw them as Sora charged. Sora barely got out of the way in time, but the rocks kept moving, instead hitting Megy and knocking her back several feet.

"Freeze!" Sora sent a barrage of snowflakes at Groudon using his Blizzard magic, the attack seeming to do much more damage than expected and freezing Groudon in place. All the Pokemon in the area began attacking nonstop, pummeling Groudon before he fell to the floor before vanishing.

"Where did he go?" Luigi asked.

A new Pokemon with a yellow head and blue body teleported into the cave. Although its eyes were closed, it appeared to be staring at the group with minor interest. "Impressive, not many manage to defeat the illusion."

"Illusion?" Bowser asked. "You mean that thing wasn't even real?"

"If it was the real Groudon, I have little doubt you all would be dead," the Pokemon said.

"Excuse me, are you Uxie?" Nicole asked. The Pokemon nodded. "We came here to meet you."

"And not for the treasure of the lake?" Uxie seemed genuinely curious.

"Well, I would like to see that," Sora said.

"Of course," Uxie said and lead them behind the cave where a large opened up. A glowing fountain surrounded by firefly like Pokemon appeared, awing everyone there. A Keyhole appeared in the air, which Sora's Keyblade sealed.

"So the Keybearer truly has arrived," Uxie said, his voice curious. "You will be leaving soon."

"Yeah," Sora said.

"Hey Uxie?" Nicole asked.

Uxie looked towards her. "That's right, you wanted to meet me?"

"You see, I can't remember anything and maybe…you could tell me if you erased my memories?" Nicole asked.

Uxie shook his head. "I can't take away all of your memories. What caused your amnesia was not my doing."

_There goes that theory_ , Tippi thought.

"Uxie, besides that thingy Sora fired the light off of, what's here?" Megy asked.

"You really want to know?" Uxie asked. Everyone eagerly nodded. He stepped aside and allowed them to look into the water at a blue gear located below.

"A Time Gear?" Megy asked in surprise. Uxie nodded. "Wow! I can see why it's important to keep this secret. Don't worry, it'll be safe with us, right Nicole?"

"Right, Team Cutie won't betray this secret," Nicole said.

"Then I'll let you keep your memories," Uxie said. He turned to Sora. "Keybearer, be aware of the fate you will face soon. Your path is no longer one of simplicity, and I hope you succeed in your quest."

"Hey, what does that mean?" Bowser asked.

"You will know when the time comes." Uxie teleported away.


	14. Chapter 14

"It's good to walk on two legs," Sora said as they arrived on the next world.

"It could be worse…you could have been as small as me," Luigi said.

"Or some awkward turtle like I was," Bowser grumbled.

Sora laughed. "You're already an awkward turtle."

"I'll have you know I'm a koopa!" Bowser crossed his arms indignantly at Sora's comment.

"Same difference," Sora said.

"I hate to interrupt, but it would pay for us not to fight until we find our way to this world's Keyhole," Tippi said.

"You're a little upset about Uxie, aren't you?" Sora asked.

"Yes…"

"What does Uxie have to do with Tippi?" Luigi asked. Sora and Tippi looked at each other quickly.

"N-Nothing!" they said together.

"Keep your-" before Luigi could finish his statement, a long green snake slithered past them. It was trimmed by yellow vines with a white underbelly and held its angular head high.

"Serperior! Slow down!" A brown haired girl ran passed them after the green snake, but the snake seemed content to just stand their uninterested. She noticed the four of them. "He didn't hit you, did he?"

"No," Sora said. "He just rushed on by."

"He's a stubborn Pokemon, Serperior, but I love him." In response to the girl's words, the Serperior let out an indignant huff and looked away. "I'm Touko." She stuck out her hand to Sora.

"I'm Sora, these are Luigi, Bowser, and Tippi," Sora said.

"I've never seen Pokemon like them before…" Touko looked them over for a moment. "Tippi might be a subspecies of Beautifly, but I've never seen anything like Bowser before."

"That's because I'm one of a kind!" Bowser boasted. Touko looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"You can talk…like actually talk. Can Tippi do that too?"

"I can," Tippi said.

"You're such a lucky trainer to have Pokemon that can speak English, especially legendaries like that!" Touko said. Her hands made rapid movements to emphasize her excitement. "You should come with me! I'm on my way to defeat N and two Pokemon like that would be amazing."

"N? Who's that?" Luigi asked.

"This huge…jerk that thinks he can separate people from Pokemon using Team Plasma. I won't let him take Pokemon away from their trainers though," Touko said. "Wait, how did you not know that if you're in Team Plasma's Castle?"

"Uhh…"

"Sora and Luigi have been training in the caves below for a while. We accidentally found our way here," Tippi said, causing both Sora and Luigi to look at each other in relief for the Pixl's quick thinking. "We're more than happy to help you out."

"Alright! I hope Bowser and Tippi can pack a punch." She pulled out a white stone from her bag. "N's got the opposite Pokemon to the one in this stone. We're supposed to be chosen heroes or something, so your Pokemon will have to be ready."

"I can handle anything," Bowser roared. "Just watch!" He punched straight through a wall, opening up the pathway to a staircase.

"I've been looking for that stairway for hours…" Touko mumbled something along the lines of it not being fair that Bowser was able to find it so quickly before running up the staircase.

"Touko, you've made it…" A boy, not much older than Sora and Touko, turned around. His light green hair, bundled in a ponytail, stood out against his black and white outfit. "I wasn't expecting you to bring help however."

"N, we don't have to fight this battle. You don't have to force people to release their Pokemon," Touko said, grabbing onto a red and white ball attached to her belt. "Sure, some Pokemon are treated badly, but most of us love Pokemon." Serperior made a noise that sounded as though it were agreeing.

"Then let's see if you're the hero." The white stone in Touko's bag started reacting as a large white Pokemon appeared with blue and red lights on its tail. The Pokemon gave a huge roar. "So it appears I picked a strong rival afterall if Reshiram is willing to fight for you. Go, Zekrom." A black Pokemon, the same size as Reshiram, but with a blue tail and a less sleek appearance appeared. "Let us see the victor in the battle of truths versus ideals."

"We'll take care of this!" Sora summoned out his Keyblade in anticipation that Zekrom was a Heartless, but Touko put her hand out to stop him.

"This is my fight Sora, let me do it. Serperior, return!" Sora watched as the ball she pulled out of her belt released a red stream of light and Serperoir disappeared. "Reshiram?" The white Pokemon nodded to her. "Let's begin the battle." The battle began as Rehsiram fired a large ball of fire at Zekrom.

"Impressive, isn't it Keybearer, the power of two legendary dragons," a voice said. Sora looked to see a man with a similar shade of green hair to N. "I imagine you're here on Touko's side?"

"Yeah," Sora said. "What about you?"

"If you cannot guess it, then stopping you is not worth my time. I'll let that pesky girl do it." The man turned back to the battle, in which both trainers were now literally on their dragons, shouting orders and firing lightning bolts and flames at the other. A batch of flames hit Zekrom, knocking him out of the sky.

Touko jumped up in the air in a cheer for winning, although what she said, Sora had no idea, she was too far away. She landed on the ground before locking eyes with the man, who had emerged into the hall.

"So, you have defeated my son after all."

"Your son?" Touko asked in confusion. "I didn't even think a heartless beast like you could love Ghetsis."

"Whether I can or can't is not the issue. N, you have failed me once more," Ghetsis said. N looked down.

"That's no way to speak to him! He lost, what's the big deal?" Touko asked.

"The true motives behind the release of all Pokemon," Ghetsis said.

"True motives? N may be naïve, but I believe that his true motive was to free all of the Pokemon," Touko said.

"But those are not Team Plasma's true motives at all. In fact it was all an elaborate scheme to put me in power of the world!" Ghetsis laughed.

"But father…I thought we were protecting the Pokemon from harm…" N looked away in anger. Nobody blamed him, he'd been used by Ghetsis like a puppet.

"You honestly thought that was the plan your abomination? You honestly aren't worth it anyways."

" _What's funny is that this is only precautionary. My son will tire of you soon and hurting you honestly isn't worth it except as revenge." A slapping sound occurred shortly afterwards_

Phantom pain rippled through Tippi at the sound of the slap, followed by a feeling of fear. She didn't understand what these phantom voices meant, but this was the first time they'd been particularly vicious.

"Don't call N an abomination!" Touko shouted at him, her voice filled with anger. "How about we face off instead you and me?"

"We'll help out!" Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"Stay out of this Keybearer!" Ghetsis waved his hand and an army of Heartless appeared. Despite this being a Pokemon world, the Heartless were of the normal variety, Shadows, Soldiers, and a Large Body. He charged at the Shadows, each strike destroying the Shadows in one blow while Bowser and Luigi turned their attentions to the Soldiers. The Large Body charged at Sora from behind.

"Sora!" Tippi shouted out a warning, but there wasn't enough time for the Keybearer to defend himself. Just before he was hit, a large shield appeared in front of him. Sora watched as Peach jumped into the battle field, her hands in a defensive position.

"Come on Sora, take him out!" Peach shouted. Sora stared at the princess with confusion for a moment before slicing through the Large Body. She smiled at him. "That's the last Heartless, right?"

"Peach?" Tippi asked in surprise. The princess nodded. "How..?"

"Count Bleck sent one of his minions after me. I woke up in his castle," Peach said. "I'm not sure how I managed to get out of there, but whatever got me out sent me here."

"This is unbelievable. It doesn't even make sense!" Luigi said. "Princess, Count Bleck wouldn't let you out of his sight. That green girl specifically said you were their next target."

"Mimi," Peach corrected. "The green girl's name is Mimi…"

"When did you learn that?" Tippi asked.

"She guarded my cell sometimes, she was nicer than the other three minions that would guard it," Peach said, her eyes avoiding the others.

"Three others? There's O'Chunks and Dimentio, but who's the third?" Tippi asked.

Peach looked at Sora with regret. "I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why are you-Riku?!" Sora realized. It made sense with the way he'd been acting. Peach nodded. "So he's working with Count Bleck…"

"The count seemed to have taken him under his wing," Peach said.

"Oh…" Sora sighed.

"Hey, don't be sad, there must be some way to save him, right?" Tippi asked. Sora nodded at her.

"Let's help out Touko now, we can save Riku later." Sora looked towards the battlefield where Serperior stood against a large black and purple dragon like Pokemon with three heads.

"Serperior, use Leaf Blade!" Touko shouted. The snake like Pokemon slashed at Ghetsis's dragon, knocking it down to the ground. "You lose Ghetsis."

"You little…" Ghetsis returned his Pokemon to its Pokeball.

"Give it up Ghetsis, it's over," Touko said and walked over to where N kneeled on the ground. A Keyhole emerged above them, which Sora locked.

"We should give them their moment," Peach said with a smile. "After all, we have our journey to resume."

"Right!" Sora said.

* * *

 

_There's something not right here…_ Tippi watched Peach with suspicious eyes as she piloted the Starshroom around. Upon her insistence, they had let the princess drive the ship as she said she knew where Count Bleck's lair was, but the thing was, they didn't appear to be nearby any worlds that might have lead them where they were supposed to go.

"Peach, are you sure this is the right way?" Sora asked. He yawned. It was the first time since Dreamland they'd had an extra pilot for the Starshroom, and he had chosen to be the one to sit out. A world flew by and the Starshroom pulled to a sudden start.

"We're here!" Peach said.

"This doesn't look like a castle?" Luigi looked at the world outside from what he could see. "Are you sure this is the place?"

"You get lost Peach?" Bowser asked. Peach laughed, but didn't respond.

"Something's not right…" Tippi looked to Peach and it hit her.  _When would Peach have used a red shield like the one she used to protect Sora…she would have used her parasol._ "You're not Peach."

"Mimimimimimimi, you all sure are dumb if only one of you was able to figure it out." "Peach" laughed one more time before transforming into the green girl.

"You, where's Peach?" Sora asked.

"Taking a nap in the count's castle of course," the girl said. "Of course, you did ask to be taken where the count was currently, not where he kept the princesses. It made the lie easy."

"You little imp…" Tippi said to Mimi with anger, but the girl just laughed.

"You honestly expected the count to let her go. Golly, I might have expected that from the turtle, but the rest of you struck me as smarter."

"Congratulations, you distracted us, what now?" Luigi asked.

"This time you better take us to Peach!" Bowser shouted.

"Well, if you really want to know, that was only part of the plan," Mimi said. "True Mimi! Come forth!" And with that her neck started turning slightly, rotating her head until it made a sickening crack, chilling all of the heroes. Her head completely rotated it on its axis until six spider legs emerged out from under her body. "MIMIMIMIMIMIMIMIMI!"

"What…What is that?" Tippi asked.

"The start of your doom. Say hello to the count for me." She rapidly began firing red gems out from her head, puncturing the Starshroom and causing it to start crashing onto the world below. Mimi teleported away before the ship could hit the ground. When the ship it, all of them lot consciousness.


	15. Chapter 15

When Sora woke up, he had no idea how much time had passed. Only that he was now on some form of metallic ship flying above the world the Starshroom had crashed onto. He looked around for Luigi, Bowser, or Tippi, only to instead see Riku's bright silver hair. "Riku?"

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," Riku said with distaste as Sora. He couldn't fight a slight gasp at the way he regarded him. "Good to see you again."

"Where are Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi?" Sora asked.

Riku looked slightly disappointed in Sora. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends?" Sora looked at Riku in confusion. How could he even think that anyways? Sensing Sora's confusion, Riku smirked. "Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking…about her." He stepped to the side and Sora got a glimpse of a face he'd been dying to see since starting the long journey. Unlike how he'd hoped to see her, she was crumpled over, and sick looking, possibly dead. Still it was her.

"Kairi!"

"That's right," Riku said. "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora tried to run to her, to reach for her when two red and yellow robots blocked his path. "Not on my watch." A bald round man with goggles and a beard laughed at Sora. Heartless and more robots began surrounding him.

"Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?" Sora asked him. While Mimi had lied about being Peach, it appeared Riku's alliance switch was at least one thing she'd been honest about.

"The Heartless obey me now Sora." Riku's tone was ominous, worrying Sora more than anything else. "Now I have nothing to fear."

"You're stupid!" Sora shouted in a desperate attempt to gain his friend's attention, to snap him out of whatever dark power's control, to free his friend. "Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart."

"Not a chance. My heart's too strong." Riku smirked as a look of sadness appeared on Sora's face. It was worse than he'd thought, way worse.

"Riku…"

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well. Like this, for instance." Riku waved his hand and a dark shadow version of Sora emerged from beneath him, its eyes glowed a fierce yellow. "You can so see your friends now." Sora was about to protest that Riku still was his friend when the ground underneath him fell, and so did he, deep into the carrier.

"Let's get under way, already. And keep Sora away from Kairi until we're ready to land." On that note Riku left the man to his business and went underneath the carrier's top level.

"Well, isn't he a bit bossy?" The man looked to two of his robots. "You keep watch of the prisoners and make sure that blasted hedgehog doesn't meet up with them."

* * *

 

"Was it really her?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah! Kairi's really here!" Sora said, his voice filled with excitement. "Just a little bit longer and we'll be united again. Then we can save Riku, find Mario, defeat Count Bleck, and head home."

"Then let's get out of this stupid cell already," Bowser said.

"You want out, huh?" A voice asked. A blue hedgehog stood by their prison's entrance. "I already took out the robots Eggman thought would keep you in if you're wondering."

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"Sonic's the name, speed's my game," Sonic said.

"Yes, we know." Luigi sighed.

"Luigi, right? What are you doing in Mobius, the Olympics aren't for a few months. And is that Bowser?"

"We're searching for Mario and Sora's friends," Tippi said. "I'm Tippi."

"You mean this is Eggman's Egg Carrier? I'm going to kill him!" Bowser shouted.

"So what are you doing here?" Sora asked.

"I'm waiting on Tails. He's supposed to be getting me a layout of the place so I can find Amy," Sonic said. Not moments after he said it did a communicator turn on.

"Sonic?" A voice asked.

"Hey Tails! You find Amy yet?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, she's in a prison cell a few rooms down. There's a heat energy in the room you're in though. It looks like Eggman has more prisoners than I thought."

"Tails, is that you?" Luigi asked.

"Whoa, Luigi?" Tails asked. "Isn't it early to be in Mobius?"

"Yes, we're in Mobius, yes, Eggman captured us, can't you just tell us where that stupid pink hedgehog is?" Bowser asked.

"I guess you're here too Bowser? Anyways, I gotta go. Good luck Sonic." The communicator switched off.

"Care to help me save Amy?" Sonic asked and pushed a bright red button to open up the cage.

"Of course," Sora said.

"Just try to keep up!" Sonic rocketed off in the other direction.

* * *

 

"Riku, you should not be using the Heartless like that," Count Bleck said. Riku scoffed at the count's reminder. "Count Bleck does not know where you got that ability, but it doesn't matter. You will still be in danger so long as you use it."

"Relax count, I'm fine," Riku said and laughed it off. "It gave Sora a scare though."

"Which should not be your objective," Count Bleck said. "If Kairi were to wake up with you gone and the Keybearer abandoning her, how would she react to being alone? You dying would put her through pain."

"Why do you even care about how Kairi feels when she wakes up?" Riku asked.

Count Bleck looked away and hid his face under his hat, a habit Riku noticed he used when he was trying to avoid making eye contact in an attempt to hide something. "That doesn't concern you."

"So what about the hedgehog girl, is she one of the seven?" Riku asked in an attempt to change the subject onto something Riku could know.

"No. She unfortunately is not. Count Bleck will leave her fate up to Eggman, but as of now she is no longer our concern," Count Bleck said.

* * *

 

"She's just up ahead!" Sonic said. He ran up to another prison cell, where a pink hedgehog in a red dress stood by the bars. "Amy!"

"Sonic! I knew you'd come to save me!" Amy cheered and went to lunge up to Sonic. "Luigi? Bowser? Why are you two here?"

"Is everybody going to ask that?" Bowser asked with a growl.

"You're Amy?" Sora asked.

"Yup, I'm Amy Rose!" She pulled out a large yellow and red hammer. "Sonic's girlfriend!"

"A-Amy!" Sonic looked at the hedgehog in shock, giving off an impression that they weren't actually dating at all.

"Nice to meet you Amy, I'm Sora," Sora said and looked to Sonic. "How about we open the cell?"

"Just let me try to wake the other girl. She's been sleeping since I've been in here." Amy walked over to a slumped over figure in the corner.

"Wait, does she have red hair?" Sora asked.

"Yeah! Do you know her?" Amy asked.

"Kairi!" Sora watched as her hand moved a quarter of an inch, which caused a slight smile to appear on his face. Footsteps sounded.

"Quick! Hide!" Amy shouted. The four heroes plus Sonic jumped behind some crates just in time to hear Amy shriek. "Hey! Let me go!" A clang sounded of hammer against heavy metal, but the footsteps continued. "I'll have you know Sonic will save me." No response. When the footsteps died down, they all looked inside the prison cell, only to find it now empty.

"Kairi…" Sora said.

"Hey you found her once, right? She's probably still here," Sonic said. "We just have to get to Eggman now." Robots emerged from all around. "Looks like we've been discovered, huh? Care to show me what you can do?"

Sora nodded and summoned the Keyblade out before attacking one of the robots. The Keyblade easily left a dent in the metallic exterior of the robot's outside. He ducked as it fired a small yellow beam from its eyes before stabbing at the robot, knocking it back several more feet. After another hit, it was quickly defeated, leaving nothing but spare parts as it exploded. He turned around to watch Bowser's claws break through a flying robot right behind him.

"You're too slow!" Sonic's voice brought his attention to the blue hedgehog as he ducked under the claw of a large robot. He jumped into the air, turning into a ball before hitting the robot, and then another, and then another, continuing the chain until all the robots were defeated.

"Woah!" Sora stared at Sonic, who shrugged.

"You weren't bad, but you were nothing compared to me," he said. "Now we should chase after the robots who took Amy and Kairi. They started running through the metallic halls of the Egg Carrier, moving as fast as they could before arriving at a room that was locked.

"Anyone have a key?" Sonic asked. It looked like he was about to ram the door when Sora pulled out his Keyblade and unlocked the door by firing a giant beam of light.

"That work for you?" Sora asked. Sonic nodded and opened the door where Riku and Count Bleck stood.

"Bleh?" Count Bleck asked. He looked over the four of them with mild curiosity. "So we meet at last, Keybearer."

"You're Count Bleck, aren't you?" Sora asked. "Tell me, what have you done to Riku!"

"Riku? Bleh heh heh heh. Count Bleck has done nothing to your friend. Simply offered him a place when you abandoned him," Count Bleck said.

"That's a lie! In all the time that I've been traveling with Sora, he hasn't stopped looking for his friends!" Tippi shouted. "You're the one who's abandoned people."

"And what would you know about this? You're nothing but an insignificant Pixl." Riku went to charge at Tippi and Sora, but Count Bleck put his hand out.

" _You're nothing but an insignificant girl, what makes you think Blumiere truly loves you?"_

"This is none of your concern Riku," Count Bleck said. "I have not turned my back on what matters most. Nothing will stop me in my quest."

"Your quest for what? Whatever you were before this is long lost? How could you destroy so many worlds? What could possibly mean so much to you that you would destroy the worlds and hurt so many innocents?" She could understand her anger at Count Bleck, but not the feeling of bitter disappointment.

"The worlds have brought nothing but pain to me. Why should I care of their fates?" Count Bleck asked.

"Because they're somebody's home! Somebody who shouldn't be hurt! If you had any heart you would…you wouldn't have hurt them!" Tippi shouted.

" _Anyone with a heart would not ignore an injured soul."_

Count Bleck underwent a change so suddenly. His face was filled with surprise as he looked at Tippi, but it shortly morphed into pain and a longing for what he had lost. "Tim-Timpani!?"

"Huh?" Tippi asked in confusion. That was the name Damien had called her back in his destroyed home.

"Uhh, Tippi?" Sora asked her. They were all staring at her, Riku included, several of them with shock. Count Bleck's had the most impact, it was one of hope. Her heart hurt at the idea that she'd have to tell him no.

"Ah ha ha ha ha! It appears I have arrived at an inopportune moment." As though on cue, Dimentio appeared.

"Dimentio!" Count Bleck shouted, his façade returning almost instantly. "Count Bleck demands to know why you are here and not at Castle Bleck."

"You needed help, did you not?" He teleported both Count Bleck and Riku, holding Kairi's body, away. "And now, I shall take my leave. Ciao." He too vanished from their sights before another word could be said.

"Hey Tippi, are you alright?" Sora asked.

"I…I think so…" Tippi answered. She was honestly more shaken to the core than anything else, but there was no point in worrying the others.

"Look out!" Sonic pushed Sora out of the way as a shadow version of the Keybearer struck, narrowly missing both Sora and Sonic.

"Thanks," Sora said and summoned out his Keyblade.

"That's Anti-Sora, a Heartless created from Riku and modeled after Sora. It's incredibly strong with all the same strengths and weaknesses as Sora, but if you all work together, you should be able to take him out," Tippi said and with that, the battle began. Sora ran after Anti-Sora first striking at him with his Keyblade only for the attack to be intercepted by the Heartless. It clawed at him, injuring Sora, but the attack managed to distract the shadow for long enough so Bowser could slash at him with his claws. The Heartless fell into the shadows to appear behind Bowser. It attacked Bowser from behind, but was left vulnerable to a double attack from both Luigi and Sonic. Anti-Sora was quickly hit by a green fireball before being hit by Sonic's ball attack. Sora stabbed at the Heartless again, this time hitting it with his Keyblade.

The Heartless split into three Anti-Soras, each one identical to the others. Sora slashed at one, only for the attack to go right through the Heartless, leaving him open to another attack. "Cure!" Green petals emerged and refreshed Sora before he attacked the Heartless once more and fell through again. Bowser, Luigi, and Sonic didn't seem to be having much more success with finding the real one among all the copies.

"This is taking too long!" Sonic created a tornado in an attempt to block round up all the copies. Only one Anti-Sora ended up inside the tornado. With the realization that it was the real one, they ignored the other copies and began blindly attacking the one in the tornado. It wasn't long before the Heartless vanished into a puff of smoke.

"Let's keep moving. We can't be that far from where Eggman's hiding Amy." Sonic pushed open the door to end up outside where Sora had confronted Sora on the Egg Carrier when he'd woken up.

"We're back here?" Sora asked.

"Sonic!" Amy shouted from a cage. Sonic went to go help her when Eggman laughed.

"Sonic, good to see you my old foe."

"Show yourself Eggman!" Sonic shouted. A large robotic monster of some kind emerged from the shadows, it looked like some kind of dragon. Eggman stood at the mouth. "Is that really what you think will destroy me?"

"Of course." The dragon pressed its foot onto the platform where Sonic was standing, but by the time the foot touched the ground, Sonic was already standing on a crate and sticking out his tongue.

"He wasn't even running at full speed around us?" Sora asked.

"Nah, Sonic's super quick," Luigi said to answer Sora's question. "I'm not even sure I'd bother helping at this point." Luigi pointed to Sonic at he ran up the metallic dragon's tail and onto the back, which Eggman proceeded to use the tail in an attempt to hit the hedgehog. The tail went right through the metal back, causing sparks to appear as Sonic climbed onto the head where Eggman sat controlling it and stuck out his tongue again as a taunt before he smashed through the glass, which along with the sparking area on the back, caused the dragon to explode.

"Curse you Sonic!" Eggman flew away, leaving Sonic behind to save Amy.

"Oh thank you Sonic! I knew you'd save me!" She hugged him as he opened up the cage.

"Knock it off Amy," Sonic said and Sora laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Sora said and smiled. "Now if we can just find the Keyhole, we can head off."

"Keyhole?" Amy asked. "Why do you need a Keyhole?"

"It doesn't matter," Tippi said.

"I'd say it's not too far from here." Sonic pointed at a floating island in the sky. "That's Angel Island. It's home to the Master Emerald. Anything that powerful probably has something to do with it."

"Thanks," Sora said. "How do I get there though?"

"Tails will fly you guys, right Tails?" Sonic asked as a blue airplane with a two tailed, orange fox manning it appeared.

"Right!" Tails said.

"Thanks." Sora nodded and the four got into the blue plane.

"No problem, I don't mind helping a friend of Sonic." Tails nodded and silence fell. Everyone had a lot on their mind, but none more than Sora and Tippi.

"Hey Sora…you don't really think…" Luigi trailed off, unsure of how to complete his phrase.

"I can't believe it. After all this time, I've finally found Kairi! I can't wait to tell her about all the awesome adventures we've all had." Sora smiled. "I wonder if she'll believe me about some of these worlds."

"If she doesn't, you can take her," Tippi said. "Then, she'll have no choice."

"Hey…Tippi, why did Count Bleck call you Timpani? I mean, Damien did too, but…" Sora looked at his Pixl friend.

"I don't know Sora…and that's what worries me the most…"

"We've arrived." Tails interrupted the conversation before it could get further. "Good luck on your journey."

"Thanks Tails, see you later," Luigi said. The fox pilot flew off. Moments after landing on the island, Sora's Keyblade activated as it sealed the Keyhole to the world and revealing another Power Star.

"Let's head to Cid and see if he can help give the Starshroom a power boost with this," Sora said.

"And then what?" Bowser asked.

"We head to Count Bleck's castle and save the world."

* * *

 

" _Hey, Sora."_

" _Hm?"_

" _When we grow up, let's get off this island." Riku was smiling. "We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"_

" _Sure, but isn't there anything fun to do now?" Sora asked. He was kind of bored. "Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house? She arrived on the night of the meteor shower." Sora began to walk out of the cave, but Riku hesitated. When he looked at the door, there was now a large keyhole…_

* * *

 

"Why did you teleport us out Dimentio, we would have been fine," Riku said.

Dimentio smirked. "You see Riku, I needed to get you alone, to tell you about the truth the count has been hiding. I couldn't do that with him around."

"The truth…what truth?" Riku asked.

"The truth of your true potential," Dimentio said. "I will tell you more about it after I take care of a small problem. Ciao." Dimentio teleported away.

* * *

 

"Count, um…are you okay?" Nastasia asked as Count Bleck reappeared.

"Nastasia…I've made a horrible mistake…" Count Bleck said.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Nastasia said.

"She's alive," Count Bleck said. "It had to be her."

"That's-that's great count. That means you can stop this plan altogether and get rid of the Heartless."

Count Bleck shook his head. "Nastasia, I promised Riku that I would get him access to Kingdom Hearts, and when she figures out that it was me who brought destruction and ruin to the world for Kingdom Hearts, she'll never forgive me."

"Then do what's right, you can't just continue along this path. Find another way to give Riku's friend her heart back. There must be another way… there must be…Lord Blumiere…"

"Nastasia, if there was another way, Count Bleck would have found it in his hours reading the Prognosticus." Count Bleck looked away. "Leave me Nastasia. I shall figure out the answer to this dilemma myself."

"Understood." Nastasia teleported away from the room, leaving Count Bleck alone.

"Ah ha ha ha ha. Count Bleck, or Lord Blumiere, it does not matter what name you go by my count…your fate is sealed…"


	16. Chapter 16

"Hopefully this will be our last trip from here," Luigi said as they entered the gate into Traverse Town's first district. "Or at least like this."

"Mmm," Tippi said. She was still lost in thought about her interaction with Count Bleck. She had to learn the truth behind the little flashes of memory, behind Timpani, behind why she was feeling so bitter and hurt about it.

"Well, let's talk to Cid and then head off!" Sora said. They all began going towards the mechanic when Tippi felt herself stiffen.

_What's…happening?_ She fell to the ground as her vision blacked out.

* * *

 

_It was a strange day. She wasn't meant to be out this late, but she wanted to go exploring, just some innocent fun before she went to bed. She followed the familiar forest path to the base of the cliff and leaned against the wall to look at the stars. She saw another figure at the top of the cliff. Nobody in her tribe went there, the Tribe of Darkness was rumored to live there, and she was forbidden to interact with members of that tribe. The ground beneath the figure began to crumble. She shouted a warning. "Look out!" They looked down in alarm at the crumbling ground and began to back away, but not fast enough as they went tumbling down the rocky slope. She ran over to the figure, now clearly given shape. It was a boy, no older than her, from the tribe. He had a dark blue skin and his blue eyes opened just slightly in the pain. His clothes, once white, were now covered in dirt and blood from the fall. She knew for a fact that her face would be contorted in worry as she reached him._

" _Help…please…" the boy pleaded as he looked at her._

" _You're going to be just fine." She picked him up. He was lighter than what she'd expected, or maybe it was just adrenaline giving her the strength to help, but she couldn't leave the boy injured on the ground like that, no matter what he was._

* * *

 

_She had been reading when she heard movement coming from her bed, followed by a soft groan. After being in her care for the past couple of days, it sounded like he was finally stirring. She ran over to the bedside in an instant, dropping the book on her desk in the process. "You're finally awake?"_

_He looked at her and the room in confusion. "Where… am I?" It made sense for him to be disoriented considering the fall he'd taken. "Is this…a human's home?" He tried to sit up, but he didn't know the extent of the damage he'd had. If he moved it wouldn't be comfortable._

_She pushed him down. "Don't move or you'll just hurt yourself more!"_

_He looked at her with more confusion than ever before. "Hurt myself…more?" It was only then that he appeared to become aware of the bandages she had wrapped him in._

" _I found you at the cliff base," she said in an attempt to explain. "You took quite a fall."_

" _You're a human, correct?" He asked her. She nodded in response; she'd never been anything else before that. "I don't…repulse you?" She gave him a look of slight confusion and concern. "I'm from the Tribe of Darkness…"_

_Before he could explain further she shook her head and scoffed. "Why would that matter? Anyone with a heart would not ignore an injured soul!"_

_He stared at her in surprise for a moment before smiling. "You humans are so weird. Most of us would have left one of you in an instant."_

" _I guess that makes me pretty unique then, I'm probably one of the only humans that would save a Tribe of Darkness." She smiled at him. "What's your name?"_

" _Blumiere," he answered._

" _I'm Timpani."_

* * *

 

_She'd been waiting in the clearing for an hour when Blumiere finally showed up. He came running in, looking like a mess with his hand on a now clean, white top hat. He smiled when he saw that she had stuck around._

" _You're late. Did something happen?" she asked._

_He nodded. "My father caught me. Sneaking out of the castle wasn't easy after that."_

" _I was worried you wouldn't come…" She admitted her fear that Blumiere had only promised to meet with her out of a sense of obligation for her saving his life._

" _You really are a strange girl…" she shot him a confused look. She didn't understand what he meant by that. "You know what I am, but you're not afraid."_

_She glared at him. "I don't care what you are!" She couldn't stop herself from blurting it out. "I just wanted to see you. Is that…is that so wrong?" Her cheeks warmed as she began to blush._

" _N-no, no, of course not." He seemed almost surprised that she'd think he didn't want to see her at all. "I wanted to see you too."_

_She smiled. "I'm glad, it's been lonely without you around."_

" _I missed you too Timpani," he said, not missing the hidden meanings in her words. "You know, we can sit on the grass."_

_She hadn't realized she'd been standing up and instantly sat down next to him, leaning her back against a tree. "Oops…"_

" _Did you learn enough about me when I was stuck in your bed?" Blumiere asked. "I'd like to start learning about you…"_

* * *

 

_She leaned against Blumiere's chest, near sleep. There was no possible way she could have been happier. She could have admitted to him the feelings she'd hidden deep inside, but then again, she didn't want to risk losing him either. It was kind of a standstill, but it could have been worse._

_A bush rustled, and they both bolted up. Had one of them been followed, or worse, caught. If that was the case then she might never be allowed out of her home, let alone be able to see Blumiere again._

" _Blumiere?" A little boy stumbled out of the bushes. He was a Tribe of Darkness, like Blumiere, but couldn't have been older than five._

_Blumiere frowned slightly. "Damien, what are you doing here?"_

_Damien was the name of his younger brother, or at least she'd thought it was. "I followed you out to practice sneaking away." He walked up to her. "Who's she? She's pretty."_

_She might have laughed if she hadn't been so scared. "I'm Timpani…your brother's friend."_

" _You're Blumiere's friend? But you're not tribe." He seemed confused. "Daddy said that human's aren't nice."_

" _Timpani is though," Blumiere said. "She's a very nice girl, and to me, a very special friend."_

_Damien gave a big grin. "You're the girl he always smiles about!"_

" _Huh?" Now it was her turn to be confused as she looked at Blumiere, whose cheeks had turned to a darker shade of blue. He was blushing._

" _Yeah! He likes you!"_

" _D-Damien-" Blumiere stammered out as she blushed. The kind of like the little boy had mentioned obviously went a bit more than simply liked judging by Blumiere's reaction._

" _You love me?" she asked in a quiet voice. It distracted his attention from Damien to her and he nodded just enough for her to make out. He looked away, as though expecting an imminent rejection. Maybe somebody else would have, but she smiled. "I…I love you too."_

_The kiss that followed would have been perfect if it weren't for Damien in the background making puke sounds._

* * *

 

_She tried to fight the feeling of panic that rose in her chest at the glowing red eyes that stared at her. The man's hands were surrounded by darkness. "My son could not have picked a more pathetic human if he'd tried."_

" _You don't know that! Blumiere and I-"_

_Blumiere's father slapped her, darkness seeping in just at the touch and making her feel sick and even more scared than before."You're nothing but an insignificant girl, what makes you think Blumiere truly loves you?" He started laughing at the look of fear on her face._

" _What's-what's so funny?" she asked in an attempt to seem stronger than she really felt._

" _What's funny is that this is only precautionary. My son will tire of you soon and hurting you honestly isn't worth it except as revenge." He approached her again and slapped her once more, more darkness attacking her whole body._

_She collapsed to the ground. She could barely look at him for fear that her fear would show. "Revenge for what? I haven't done anything besides falling in love."_

" _For corrupting my son and trying to steal him away." This time, waves of darkness flew at her, knocking her out._

* * *

" _Timpani! There you are!" Blumiere ran over to her with a smile, which she could barely respond with one of her own. "I've been looking all over for you."_

_Her smile faltered slightly. "You…you have?"_

_He nodded. "I've missed you so much."_

" _I…I'm sorry then…for everything…" She started to walk away before he could ask her what she'd meant by that. She hadn't expected him to grab her wrist._

" _Why are you running a-" realization dawned on his face "-you've been avoiding me, haven't you? Why?"_

_She tried to pull her hand free of his grasp, but he just tightened his grip slightly, hitting one of the darkness infused wounds. "Ow…OW! Let go!" Tears started streaming down her face, both from the pain and from what she knew she would have to say if he pushed, all because of some stupid fear._

_His grip lightened slightly as he saw the tears dripping down her face. "Huh? You're…crying? Timpani, what's wrong? Please tell me?"_

" _It's…it's nothing…don't worry about it…" if she could make him think she was fine, maybe he'd let her leave and she could avoid him again. "Just forget it…okay?"_

_The brief look of him out of the corner of her eye was so torn. It was obvious part of his wanted to do nothing more than reassure her while the other part wanted to find out why. He looked to her arm and gave a soft gasp, his hand dropping hers instantly. She could have made a break for it in just moments, but what he'd said stopped her. "Is my father behind this?"_

" _I'm…" she wanted to say yes. She wanted to say yes and just collapse into his arms and cry, but she remembered the threats, the pain. She couldn't handle that again. "I'm just an ordinary girl. No matter how much I love you, we must part."_

" _Timpani…I…"_

_She looked away. "I'm sorry, but this is good-bye Blumiere. There isn't another choice. This is our fate." She started walking, and he made no move to stop her. She couldn't look back, unable to bear seeing Blumiere's heartbroken face. Just as she was almost away, he spoke._

" _I don't want to lose you, but if this is the path you want to take…" he sounded choked up and she stopped. "At least let me fix what was broken before I lose you forever."_

" _I-" before she could stop him he'd already run over, his face blank as kneeled down and ran his hand over the darkness stained skin, making each dark purple wound vanish. It was obvious he was trying to hide the emotions he was feeling._

" _Th-thank you," she said and he nodded. He stood up, but before he could take a step away, she grabbed his arm, causing him to look backwards at her with hope. "I-" She collapsed, sobbing into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry._

* * *

 

" _It's been a while since we first met," Blumiere said._

_She laughed. "I never would have guessed considering I turn eighteen this week and we met when I was fifteen."_

_He smiled. "It doesn't feel like three years. Only that month felt like a while." That month, that's what they both referred to the time she'd been running away, the time she'd been hurt. "By the way-" He pulled out a small box "-happy birthday."_

_She looked at it skeptically. "You didn't have to get me anything."_

" _But I wanted to," he said. "Open it up." She opened up the wrapping to reveal a small purple box. She opened the box to reveal a small diamond sitting on a gold band. She looked at him, unsure how to react, in too much shock to speak."Marry me?"_

_It took her about five minutes to finally find her voice. "What…What are you thinking? There's no way…I mean…"_

" _If we can't find a happy ending here, I'm willing to spend forever looking. There are thousands of worlds out there, one of them will have to be safe," Blumiere said and smiled._

_He was so hopeful, but they couldn't have been free yet, there was no way. "But is there even a place like that? I don't want either of us to get hurt again…"_

" _If our love has no home, we'll just keep looking for it forever. So Timpani, can I have your answer now?" he asked._

_She fought a smile. "You just won't give up, will you? Of all the crazy…stubborn…foolish men…"_

_She could tell he knew she was just teasing by the way a smile lit up his face. "Is that your final answer?"_

" _Let's begin searching. It's time we find that world at last, one where we can be together." He didn't ask again as she slipped the ring onto her finger and leaned over, kissing him once more._

* * *

 

" _Oh-oh my!" a voice said. Her vision was hardly able to discern more than shadows and her brain barely able to process what the voice said. She was losing the fight, she was dying. "M-miss?"_

" _T-t-tell…" she tried to form more words, but her voice gave out and she completely blacked out to the voice shouting at her to come back, to finish her words._

_In the midst of the black void, she felt warmth, light, then a voice._

" _So you've awoken at last?" She looked over at the blue cloaked wizard standing over her. She flew up weakly. "Please be cautious. The transfer just occurred."_

" _T-transfer?" she asked._

" _Into the body you currently reside in. I'm Merlon, and you are?"_

"… _I can't remember…"_

" _Then we'll give you a new name. Your memories will hopefully return in time, but for now, what would you like to be called?"_

_It was strange, knowing what she could do, but not the first thing about herself. She was a scanner, one who could scan anything and learn the truth. "I'll be…"_

* * *

 

"Tippi! Tippi!" Sora shouted. The Pixl hadn't realized she'd been on the floor until she'd already been there.

"H-huh?" Tippi asked, looking around.

"We were about to go talk to Cid when we lost sight of you," Luigi said. "We came back to find you lying here, screaming." They all looked worried, even Bowser. "What happened?"

"I…I don't know." Tippi couldn't face them. She did know, and she was lying to them, which hurt. Sora gave her a funny look. "We should go talk to Cid now."

"If you're sure…" Luigi looked at her before walking off with Bowser in the lead. Sora hung back slightly.

"What really happened?" Sora asked. He was looking at her with concern. She sighed, about to answer that she didn't know when he spoke again. "Tippi, you told me that you couldn't remember your past, if this has something to do with it…"

"I remember everything Sora, and I don't know what to do," Tippi said. "I have to save Blumiere, but I have to stop him too. It's not something I want to face."

"Huh?" Sora asked. "You know what, just put your trust him, I'm sure it will work out in the end," Sora said and ran ahead of Bowser and Luigi to reach Cid first.

"Hey, Sora, welcome back, what do you need my help for this time?" Cid asked.

Sora pulled out a Power Star. "We found another one. Can you install it?"

"Yeah, just wait a few minutes and I'll have the Starshroom ready for you," Cid said.

The moment the power was out of sight, Sora sighed. Bowser noticed. "What's got you down?"

"Oh…uh…" Sora looked away.

"Yeah, don't you remember what the princess told you? You should keep smiling so when we find your friends they don't see you so upset," Luigi said.

"It's just…I've lost Riku and Kairi and…" Sora decided to change the subject instantly. "How can you two still be happy? We haven't had any signs of your brother since we started this journey."

"Are you kidding?" Bowser laughed. "A day without Mario is better than any day with him. I'm only on this journey because Peach asked."

"Sora, I'm not worried because we were told the key would have the answers, and that's you," Luigi said. "You're the key, and we'll find him because of you. I bet you can save your friends no problem, so just have some faith okay."

"Just…believe in myself?" Sora asked.

" _I believe in you."_ It was Kairi's voice.

A bright light flashed, and Sora saw a younger Kairi in a library talking to an old woman. "Where am I?"

" _Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived...in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return. So, listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away. Do you understand, Kairi?"_

The old woman told the story to Kairi. The little girl version of her nodded and Sora reached for her. "Kairi!"

As quickly as it happened, he was back in Traverse Town with Tippi, Bowser, and Luigi. "Huh?"

"Is something wrong?" Tippi asked, showing more concern for Sora than her issues at that moment.

"It's nothing…" Sora said.  _Kairi…did you call me?_

"The Power Star's in the Starshroom. Just be careful, I almost guarantee that the world you're heading for is swarmed with Heartless."

"We figured, thank you…for everything," Sora said.

"Good luck kid. You're gonna need it." Cid nodded to them and they walked to the gates of Traverse Town, ready for whatever lay in their path.


	17. Chapter 17

"I hate him!" Bowser growled as they saw the castle Count Bleck called his home for the first time. If the outside weren't impressive enough with stones floating above water leading up to a path, then the castle was. Even in its destroyed state, the castle was large with spires stretching into the sky. The Heartless symbol was built into the side with wires and gears running around it. "How does he get such a nice castle?"

"Bowser, stop being jealous," Luigi said with a sigh. "Although I have to admit, it is a pretty impressive castle."

"I know this place…" Sora mumbled. He looked at the sheet of paper he'd found when he first saw Kairi in the Bitlands, and sure enough, they matched.

"It's the same place as the picture…" Tippi said. "Didn't you recognize it then too?"

"That's strange," Luigi said. "But you've never been there-here before."

"I just wonder why…" Sora said. "I feel this warmth inside right here." His hand moved over his heart.

"You're just imagining it," Bowser said.

"I'm serious!" Sora argued. They looked at the path ahead of them and carefully jumped from floating platform to floating platform until finally arriving at the beginning of the walkway to the castle. They started to walk, only to be stopped by a voice.

"So, you finally made it." They all turned around to see Riku, Sora summoning his Keyblade in the process. "About time. I've been waiting for you."

"You have?" Sora asked. For the first time in a while, he felt hope. If Riku had been waiting, maybe he'd determined it was time to join the light.

"We've always been rivals, haven't we?" Riku asked. Sora nodded slightly at Riku's statement, but he could already tell he didn't like where it was going. "You've always pushed me as I've pushed you."

"Riku…" Sora looked away.

"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade Masters." Riku watched Sora. They all reacted in shock, but Sora most of all.

He grabbed the Keyblade tighter as though Riku were about to pull it out of his hands. "What are you talking about?"

"Let the Keyblade choose…its true master." Riku extended his arm and the Keyblade started pulling away from Sora's grasp. He tried to pull it back, but it just disappeared from his hands, appearing in Riku's moments later.

Cries of disbelief erupted from Luigi, Bowser, and Tippi. "That's impossible! The Keyblade chose Sora!"

"Dimentio was right," Riku said. "You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade Master can open the secret door…and change the world."

"Dimentio…what happened to Blu-Count Bleck?" Tippi asked.

"You'll find out." Riku waved his hand in disregard.

Sora finally found his voice. "But that's impossible. How did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

"You were just the delivery boy. Sorry, your part's over now." He pulled out a wooden sword from the islands and tossed it to Sora. "Here, go play hero with this."

Sora fell to the ground. His heart hurt. "Why?"

"Bowser, let's go." Luigi began walking past Sora.

"But what about Sora? He's actually my friend," Bowser said.

"The sooner we finish the mission, the sooner we can save Peach and the others and get home. I'm sorry Sora." Luigi and Bowser walked behind Riku, causing the silver haired boy to smirk. "Tippi, are you coming?"

"How could you!" Tippi shouted. "Sora was your friend! All you've done is hurt him."

"Like he hurt me, he deserves it," Riku said and snapped his fingers. A Heartless grabbed Tippi.

"Let me go!"

"Take her to Dimentio," Riku said. The Heartless vanished.

Sora watched as Bowser and Luigi walked after Riku with a look of regret between them. "And then it was just me…"

"You're not as alone as you think…Keyblade Master…" Sora looked up to see a battered form of Count Bleck standing over him. "Now get up."

"C-Count Bleck?" Sora asked. The count paused for a moment before slowly nodding. "Why are you helping me?"

"It doesn't begin to make up for my mistakes, but it is a start," Count Bleck said. "Maybe one day…I'll be worthy of her forgiveness…"

"Her?" Sora asked, but it appeared the count was unwilling to elaborate further on that point as he stood up and picked up the wooden sword he had been fighting with. "Let's go."

"Let's go? No…anger?" Count Bleck asked in confusion. Sora shook his head. "Why?"

"You obviously want to change, to help me out, and without the Keyblade, I'm gonna need all the help I can get," Sora said. "I just need something else to call you…you're not as dark as you were and calling you Bleck sounds horrible."

"All humans really are strange…" Count Bleck muttered. "Before I was Count Bleck, I once had another name…Blumiere."

"Blumiere?" Sora asked. "It's nice to meet you Blumiere, I'm Sora."

"Now that we have been reintroduced Keybl-Sora…it's time we begin. I should be able to navigate my castle well enough for travel."

"Huh? Can't we just enter through the entrance?" Sora asked.

Count Bleck looked amused. "I almost guarantee that somebody has locked the way or that my minions are guarding it. No, we'll have to go another way."

"And that is..?" Sora asked

"There are a couple of secret passages that lead into the library. From there we can arrive in the main hall," Count Bleck said. He pointed to a small passage way connected to a lift of some kind. "That lift will take us below the castle. It'll be swarming with Heartless, but they're easier to fight than Mimi and O'Chunks are, especially in our current conditions."

"Wait, why don't they just help you?" Sora asked.

"Dimentio has convinced them that I am not truly Count Bleck, but an imposter. Only Nastasia knew me before all this, so they bought the imposter story. They think I want to release the princesses and end the mission." Count Bleck began floating towards the rift, Sora following close behind.

"You know, you don't seem like much of a bad guy," Sora said.

"Once upon a time, I wasn't…" Count Bleck hid his face underneath his hat's rim. "It is none of your concern however who I once was. Up until five minutes ago, I was your target, your enemy, now I am your ally." He stepped onto the lift and Sora followed. He pushed a button and the platform went down into a gated area, filled with a water way. Upon arrival, several Heartless formed, most of them dark with yellow eyes and an ugly face while the others looked like a magician with a dark purple hat and brown tipped staff.

"I miss Tippi, she'd tell us what to do with these Heartless," Sora said and held the wooden sword like he would the Keyblade.

"It wouldn't make a difference. You can't fight them anyways." Sora frowned at Count Bleck's statement, but knew the former villain was right. The wooden sword was nearly useless on Shadows, it wouldn't be of any use with the more powerful Heartless. Count Bleck pulled out his staff and began firing small dark bullets at the magician Heartless. Each bullet pierced through the Heartless accurately and instantly, causing them to vanish and leave behind a pink heart. He then dodged one of the ball shaped Heartless, effortlessly moving out of the way before summoning a small dark portal of some kind. It instantly sucked up the round Heartless that attacked.

One of the Heartless went at Sora and he lifted his wooden sword up, the wood barely offered protection as it went to bite at him over and over again. He watched as Count Bleck came over and fired another dark projectile, this one at the Heartless attacking. The Heartless instantly vanished into a cloud of darkness.

"Thanks." Sora smiled at Count Bleck for saving him.

Count Bleck nodded. "You were in trouble and we need each other if we're going to stop Dimentio."

* * *

 

"This should be the exit." Count Bleck pushed against the wall and it began rotating, leading into a library that Sora recognized from somewhere, but he couldn't figure out where.

"Look at all the books!" Sora looked around at them.

"You didn't strike me as an avid reader," Count Bleck said.

Sora shrugged. "Whether I am or not, it's still a lot of books."

"How far are we from where we join up with main castle wing anyways?"

"Not far," Count Bleck said. "Just out that door." They exited the door into a room with a large cavern. "I'm going to unlock the main door. I'll be back in about five minutes." He walked to the main entrance and into a hallway attached to the round room.

As he was walking, he stiffened. "Sora, it's a-" what he was about to say was cut off as the door slammed behind him.

"Blumiere!" Sora reached for the door.

"Quit while you can." Riku stood on top of a stairway, Luigi and Bowser behind him. Both partners had a look of regret on their face, and Tippi was notably absent.

"No," Sora said. "Not without Kairi."

Riku was engulfed in a dark aura. When it faded he wore a purple jumpsuit with a white grass skirt with purple ends. On his chest sat the symbol of the Heartless. "The darkness will destroy you."

"You're wrong, Riku." Sora shook his head. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die."

"Really…" Riku rolled his eyes, in doubt of Sora's statement completely. "Well, we'll just see about that." He raised his hand and fired a ball of darkness at Sora. The Keybearer didn't move and just waited to be hit by the attack.

It never came. When Sora opened his eyes, Bowser stood in front of him, ducked inside his shell. "You're not hurting Sora!"

"You'd betray your friend, your princess?" Riku asked.

"Peach never told me to follow some stupid key, she left me to help out Sora, and that's what I'm gonna do. Besides, why would I do what Mario tells me anyways? I hate the guy." Bowser laughed. "Hey green, make sure the princess learns we're coming for her."

"I'm not gonna abandon Sora either." Luigi ran for Sora. "You're my friend now, why would I abandon you too."

Sora looked down. "Thanks a lot…Luigi, Bowser."

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku asked.

"I know now I don't need a Keyblade." Sora shook his head. "I have a better weapon…my heart."

"Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you." Riku seemed amused by Sora's statement.

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone," Sora said. "It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their heart just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then…if they don't forget me…our hearts will be one."

Sora stood in his fighting position, slouched over with the hilt of the wooden sword in both hands. "I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"

Riku watched in surprise as the Keyblade he'd been holding vanished from his hands and returned to Sora's.

"Fine then, I don't need a Keyblade to beat you." Riku pulled out the sword he'd been using earlier and lunged at Sora. Sora lifted up his Keyblade to block the attack and slashed at Riku, who jumped out of range of the attack. He jumped into Bowser's waiting claws and found himself scratched by the Koopa King before stabbing at him and causing Bowser to return to his shell. Sora ran at Riku again and slashed downward diagonally before stabbing and making an arced shot, hitting Riku with all three. Riku threw a dark fireball. The attack hit and Sora quickly retaliated by throwing his Keyblade at Riku. Riku grabbed the Keyblade only for it to rematerialize back in Sora's hands and out of his.

Luigi threw a fireball at Riku in his moment of distraction, causing him to get hit by the bright green flame and fall back into a torrent of flames out of Bowser. Riku needed to get out of there quickly if he wanted a chance to survive, but Sora didn't give him a chance to escape as a Blizzard attack when towards the silver haired teen, nearly freezing him and doing a substantial amount of damage. Riku fell to his knees.

Sora ran up to Riku, to help up his friend, but Riku pushed him away and teleported out.

* * *

 

"Why? It was mine!" Riku asked in anger.

"Know this…" Riku looked behind him in surprise to see the hooded man from the islands. "The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade."

"What?" Riku couldn't believe it. "You're saying my heart's weaker than his?"

The man nodded. "For that instant it was. However you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow stronger."

"What should I do?" Riku asked, at this point desperate for the power to one up Sora and protect Kairi.

"It's really quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."

Riku did as the voice told. He let the darkness in, but this was different. Like always, a dark aura surrounded him, but he didn't feel in control anymore. He'd always felt like the darkness in him was contained, but now he couldn't help but wonder if Sora was right, that he had no control over it after all, that he was nothing but a pawn. Before he could change his mind, reject the darkness, and fight back, he blacked out.


	18. Chapter 18

The moment the battle ended, the doorway that Count Bleck had been locked behind has been opened. He stepped out, causing Luigi and Bowser to instantly enter a battle position.

"Sora! It's Count Bleck!" Luigi shouted.

"I know," Sora said. "Is the entry open?" The two stared at him as Count Bleck nodded.

"Since when did you two start working together?" Bowser asked.

"When you left him to be killed by the Heartless while you went and traveled with Riku,"Count Bleck answered. The duo looked ashamed.

"It's alright, I've forgiven them, now we have to go after Riku," Sora said. "Were your other minions back there?"

"No. Dimentio must have them positioned in other areas of the castle, most likely holding the keys to the doorway. Now however, you are in much better condition with a real weapon," Count Bleck said, indicating the Keyblade Sora had not yet sent away. "And four is better than just one capable fighter."

"Where will they be?" Luigi asked with a glare towards Count Bleck.

"Anywhere, their rooms, in the pathway leading up to the door, even just above us." On instinct, the other three looked up to Count Bleck's statement, thankful immediately afterwards for the empty ceiling and chandelier. "I don't know where they could be hiding, but I'd assume it's somewhere in the area."

"So do we just wander around until we find them?" Bowser grumbled. Count Bleck nodded. "What a horrible plan."

Sora looked at Luigi and Bowser. "Do either of you two have a better plan?"

"Don't take his side!" Luigi shouted. "Who knows if he's even on our side?"

"Tippi would, and I trust her," Sora said. "Besides, everyone deserves a second chance."

"We'll work with him, but I don't like it…" Bowser said.

"Then it's settled," Sora said. "I say we check the pathway as far as we can go first, and if that doesn't work, then we check the library and back here."

Following Sora's direction, they entered the hall into the back area of the castle, Luigi and Bowser lingering behind while Sora walked with Count Bleck. It was awkward to say the least, and nobody said much.

"'Ey! Look who finally showed up!" Standing in front of the hallway back to the main hall was O'Chunks. "It's teh imposter and the 'eroes. I would 'ave thought Riku would beat yeh."

"O'Chunks," Count Bleck said sadly. "So you will be the first to challenge us…it doesn't have to be this way."

"O' course it does. Yer tryin' teh replace teh count and stop his plans." O'Chunks raised his arms into a fighting position. "If yer really the count, yeh'll 'ave to beat me to prove it."

"Bowser, I want your aid in this fight," Count Bleck said.

"What? What about Luigi and me?" Sora asked in surprise.

Count Bleck smiled. "If Mimi turns out to be just as stubborn as O'Chunks, you will be much better equipped for the fight than Bowser." Sora nodded and stepped back with Luigi.

"If yeh don' want they're 'elp it'll be yer own fault when yeh lose teh fight." O'Chunks charged at Count Bleck, who teleported out of the way the moment the strike went to hit. At that moment, Bowser released a mouthful of flames at O'Chunks, who was unable to stop his charge and got burned. Count Bleck reappeared moments later, firing a dark projectile at O'Chunks. The projectile passed right through him (causing O'Chunks damage) and landed on the ground, just barely missing Bowser.

"Hey! That almost hit me!" Bowser shouted in anger. Count Bleck spared an apologetic glance at the Koopa before firing a small dark hole at O'Chunks, sucking him up and nearly crushing him before releasing the dazed warrior right into the path of Bowser's claws. The sharp claws snapped O'Chunks out of his shocked state and he lifted up Bowser, throwing him at Count Bleck, who teleported out of the way once more before reappearing behind O'Chunks and hitting him on the head with his staff. O'Chunks turned around and grabbed the count, much to his surprise, and threw him into a recovering Bowser.

"Not so tough are yeh imposter?" O'Chunks taunted Count Bleck.

"I didn't wish to hurt you O'Chunks, but it appears Nastasia has not been able to reveal the truth to you," Count Bleck said and lowered the brim of his hat over his face before firing a much large dark projectile at O'Chunks. The attack hit him, knocking him out cold in an instant. "Come heroes, we must hurry." He reached into O'Chunks's pocket and grabbed a small silver key.

"You didn't kill him…did you?" Luigi asked.

Count Bleck shook his head. "He is unconscious. Nothing more."

"Then that means all that's left is the green girl who imitated Peach," Sora said. "Where would she be?"

"Hopefully in hiding…out of the two, Mimi would have been the easier to convince that there is no imposter," Count Bleck said.

They started on the way back to the main chamber quickly, stopping once they arrived in the center of the room. "So which way should we look?"

"If she wasn't by the entrance or the lift stop, the only place she could be would be the library," Count Bleck said.

"Mimimimimimimimimimimimi." A bat like creature swooped down, only a second later transforming into Mimi. "Silly count, how could you not have figured out I was here this whole time?"

"A foolish mistake," Count Bleck said. "I should assume you did not buy Dimentio's story?"

"Of course I didn't, a fake count? A doppelganger like me would notice the truth in an instant." Mimi giggled, but it was anything but sweet. "Of course, just because you're working with them doesn't mean I can let the heroes pass, I have to protect the thing so you can finish the mission. The fake alliance with the heroes was a smart idea."

"What, fake? Blumiere's been helping me out," Sora said.

"So those are the lies Dimentio has told you…" Count Bleck said.

"Really, I bet he's been using you the whole time so he can use your Keyblade to gain access to Kingdom Hearts. Dimentio said that a Keyblade has to be used to unlock the door…" Mimi said. "Not that I care, my mission's still to eliminate anybody against the count. Mimimimimimimimi."

And she smiled. It wasn't a normal reassuring smile, but a smile that seemed to scream killer and her head rotated once more, tilting to the left before resolving with a loud crack and rotating around until she was in her spider form once more. "We didn't get to fight last time because of how small that ship was, but this time it'll be fun." She fired a red gem at Sora, who ducked out of the way as the gem hit the ground. He summoned out his Keyblade and charged at Mimi, who very easily avoided the strike. She fired another red gem at him, this one hitting him and doing a surprise amount of damage. Luigi jumped into the fight, bouncing on top of Mimi's head and causing her to lose balance on her thin spider legs, but that lack of balance was more than enough of an opportunity for Sora to jump into the fight and hit her with his Keyblade, severing one of the legs from her body.

"Fire!" A large fireball flew towards Mimi, which she easily deflected with another of her red gems, the gem continued to fly towards Sora. Count Bleck raised his staff and a mini black hole opened up in front of Sora, blocking the attack from hitting him. Sora smiled in thanks before jumping in with his Keyblade again, once more managing to slice off another of Mimi's legs. Luigi fired a ball of green fire at her, which she dodged before finding herself under his feet as he once more jumped over her to hit her. In retaliation, she fired a red gem at him and knocked him back several feet before Sora came in and slashed at her once more.

Mimi transformed back to her normal form. "Stop it you meanies!"

"You're the one who attacked first," Sora said.

"He's right." A blue skinned woman appeared, her pink hair tied up into a bun. "And Mimi, you need to listen when I tell you to help the count."

"You mean the count's really working with the heroes?" Mimi asked in surprise. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Wait, who is she?" Sora asked.

"My last remaining minion and a dear friend, Nastasia," Count Bleck said.

"Right, count, you'll need this for the journey ahead." Nastasia reached into her pocket and pulled out a bronze key. "Mimi, you should give the count your key to."

"Wait, if you had a key shouldn't you have had all of them?" Sora asked.

"If I had any more, Dimentio would have suspected when they were all missing. Only Lord Blumiere and I know of this key. It was a backup plan so no matter what you would be unable to proceed."

"Do I really have to help the heroes?" Mimi asked.

"Mimi, we're not stopping the plan, we are changing it to stop Dimentio's takeover, the end result will still be the same," Count Bleck said, but the way he said it made the others think there was more to this plan than met the eye.

"Alright, I'll help." She pulled out a gold key and handed it to Count Bleck. "By the way count, Dimentio's in the keyhole room, not sure how much that helps."

"So he has done exactly as expected…" Count Bleck mumbled. "Mimi, Nastasia, O'Chunks is in the lift room. See he finds out the whole of what is going on. Heroes, it's time we head off to battle Dimentio."

"Then what, so you can turn on us?" Bowser asked.

"So this story may finally reach its end."

* * *

 

"Pure hearts of light, show me the Keyhole to Kingdom Hearts!" Dimentio raised his hands and six beams of light emerged from six glass chambers holding six different girls.

"So I see the path has emerged at last," Riku said, walking up to Dimentio. His voice sounded different somehow, almost overshadowed by another voice, a deeper voice.

"Yes, the Keyhole of power with its world destroying darkness, just as predicted in the Prognosticus." Dimentio indicated the dark book, lying to the side of a heart shaped portal. He laughed slightly, what Count Bleck had been looking for was what he had been trying to find all along. "And with it, access to Kingdom Hearts, ultimate power and the rebirth of worlds, I'll be a god."

"Unlock it and the Heartless will overrun this world," Riku said.

Dimentio shrugged. "One world and the five minions who live here are nothing compared to the power I will receive. I will use those Heartless just like I have used others like that boy."

"Such confidence." Riku summoned a dark Keyblade, this one black with a red hilt. Dimentio eyed it with curiosity.

"So you managed to get your hands on a Keyblade after all?" Dimentio asked. He looked up and was surprised when a small spark occurred in the center and the lights faded away. "Impossible, I gathered all the princesses the book listed like a cat stalking its many varieties of prey. They're all here, even the Pixl girl."

"Are they all truly here though?" Riku asked. A smirk rested on his face.

Realization hit Dimentio's face. "Of course, the girl!"

"Without her heart, she will never be able to release her power," Riku said.

"Then in that case, I believe it is time we finished off your old friend and the dear count, wouldn't you?" Dimentio asked. "Guard the princesses, for I will be back shortly. Ciao."

* * *

 

"Deep freeze!" Sora fired a powerful ice attack behind the Heartless's shield into its back, causing it to vanish and leave a pink heart behind.

"Sora, look out!" Bowser shouted, one of the round Heartless from earlier went to eat Sora, but Count Bleck stepped in and hit it at the same time as Sora, causing the Heartless to vanish. "Whose bright idea was this trap anyways?"

"It's a good idea when you want to keep your enemies from attacking." He fired a spell at another of the Heartless, causing it to vanish. "I'll admit it isn't a smart one when you're trying to get into your own castle." It was a miracle when they arrived at the end of the lift ride and onto the outside balcony of the castle.

"Let's take a different way back," Sora said as they were able to step off of the lift. "Which way Blumiere?"

Count Bleck put his hand to his chin for a moment before pointing towards the platform above them. Use that to enter the lift stop's uppermost entrance and it's a quick ride up the top."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sora started jumping up several platforms before arriving at the top. Luigi followed the pattern with ease and even Bowser didn't have much of an issue. Count Bleck simply teleported up to the top of the platform next to Sora. The four boarded the lift in silence as they finally arrived at the top.

"Ah ha ha ha ha. So you have arrived at last." Dimentio stood at the top of the room in wait. He glided down to meet the heroes.

"Dimentio…" Sora looked at the jester with a look of pity.

"It's not too late Dimentio. You can change this path," Count Bleck said, but Dimentio laughed in his fate.

"Oh dear count, it's ironic, I was the one pulling the strings all along like a puppeteer manipulating you all from the start," he said. "This world will soon be gone and I shall finally have the ultimate power to rebuild the universe to my liking. The darkness will soon consume your pathetic hearts."

"No it won't!" Sora summoned his Keyblade. "After coming this far, there's no way that's gonna happen!"

"Then I suppose it is time we finally fight." Dimentio raised his arms and surrounding them was a large green room. "Do you like it? It is the only dimension I have been able to create, Dimension D."

"Then I suppose it will be twice as embarrassing when we cream you on your own world!" Bowser let loose a massive amount of flames toward Dimentio, who simply teleported out of the way of the attack. He reappeared moments later and fired a purple and yellow ball of magic at Bowser, hitting the Koopa King and harming him. Sora jumped in moments later and swung his Keyblade down, the Keyblade hitting Dimentio on the head before returning to Sora's side. The jester smirked before teleporting out of the way of an attack from Luigi and another one from Sora, nearly causing the duo to hit each other. When he reappeared, Count Bleck hit him with his staff.

"I see. Let's see how you handle this illusion." He vanished, reappearing moments later with two copies of himself, each summoning a ball of magic to use against the heroes. Bowser clawed at the nearest Dimentio, but his claws seemed to pass right through the jester, however, when the attack launched, it still hit him, Sora, and Luigi. Sora hit another with his Keyblade only for it to pass through the copy as well. He scarcely avoided another attack before hitting what he thought was another Dimentio, only for the attack to go through that one as well. Count Bleck fired a dark magic projectile only for it to go harmlessly through one Dimentio and into another, actually causing damage.

"That one's the real Dimentio." Count Bleck pointed. Luigi, who was nearest, leapt onto the Dimentio's head, actually landing on it before he could teleport away. The copies too vanished, and only one Dimentio appeared. He raised his arms high into the air, summoning boxes all around them. Sora was the only one caught inside, and while Bowser raked his claws through Dimentio, it was not enough to distract the jester from causing an explosion within the box. It exploded several times before the box disappeared and Sora stumbled out.

"Sora!" Luigi shouted and ran for Sora, but he just raised his Keyblade towards the air.

"Heal!" a bright green light a leaves emerged from the top, healing some of Sora's wounds before he charged at Dimentio, slicing through the spell and arriving above Dimentio, he slashed down directly, his Keyblade infused with a bright aura that seemed to deal more damage than anything else to Dimentio. The attack launched him to the dimension's ground, where he fell straight into Bowser's flames.

The green dimension that had previously surrounded them vanished in an instant as Dimentio let out a cry of "Mercy!"

"Do you need some help?" And through a strange dark portal, Riku appeared as though sensing that Dimentio has lost.

"Riku!" Sora shouted for his best friend. The silver haired boy case Riku a glance as though he were of no significance.

Luigi appeared to notice something in Riku's hand. "Is that-"

"Yes, a Keyblade," Riku said and lifted it up for Sora to see. "But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate…" with those words, he plunged the Keyblade into Dimentio's chest.

"What?" Dimentio asked in surprise.

Riku smirked. "Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

"This is the true power I longed for, and now the final battle shall arrive." Dimentio became engulfed in large tendrils of darkness as they engulfed him. When he emerged, he was no longer quite the same. He was larger with large boots and his jester's poncho supersized. The head was the creepiest part with what appeared to be an eternal smile.

"Dimentio!" Count Bleck shouted, part in anger and part in shock.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha. It is time for your death, is it not?" Dimentio asked. He began to fire the same dark projectiles Count Bleck had fired out. The group started scrambling around in an attempt to avoid them running left and right before the assault finally stopped. Luigi sent a fireball at Dimentio's oversized face, but the attack did very little to the jester's new from. Sora slashed at his feet with his Keyblade, but it seemed to have about the same affect. His after hit came from the heroes, flames, claws, spells, everything, but it seemed to do nothing to Dimentio as he proceeded to simply stop them and fire his projectiles at them at every turn.

"This is getting us nowhere fast," Count Bleck said and fired a dark projectile at Dimentio before getting hit by one of Dimentio's now oversized fists.

"There's got to be something…" Sora rolled out of the way of one of Dimentio's boots as it went to hit him.

" _The Final Smash unlocks the user's potential. So long as you promise to seal the Keyhole on my world, you are welcome to use it off of this world."_ Master Hand's words from before the Smash Arena so long ago filled Sora's mind.  _If only I knew how to use it…_

Count Bleck looked towards Sora. "You have a plan, we'll distract Dimentio." He ran up to Dimentio and hit him with a magic spell, the attack only managing to draw Dimentio's attention to him as Count Bleck was started to have the projectiles aimed at him once more.

Sora closed his eyes, no longer watching the battle. He had to concentrate if he wanted the power of the Final Smash to activate without the Smash Orb. There was no way it was going to work though. He heard Bowser roar in pain as an attack probably hit him, and all his concentration was on his friends, who were getting hurt.

" _I believe in you…Sora…"_ It was Kairi's voice. Suddenly a warm feeling filled his heart as he began glowing with the rainbow aura.

"Light!" Beams of light came down at Sora's command, striking Dimentio right in the head, unlike earlier attacks, these did substantial damage to him. Moments after the attack stopped, Bowser released a large amount of fire, dealing normal damage to Dimentio. With his defenses weakened, attacks began injuring the jester in large parts until his head hit the ground.

"H-how did you manage to defeat me?" Dimentio asked.

"It wasn't all that hard, all it took was a little extra strength," Sora said and smiled slightly.

"This isn't the last you'll hear from me," Dimentio said and started laughing. "Ciao." His head faded away into the darkness.

"Is he...dead?" Count Bleck asked.

"I think so," Sora said. They sighed in relief, all of them. "Does that mean we have to fight each other now?"

"No, my goal is in sight and can be achieved without further destruction. Our time as enemies is done," Count Bleck said.

"I suppose that's a good thing," Luigi said. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go finish your mission!"

As they went to leave, a voice rang out. "How ironic. He was just another puppet after all."

"What?" Bowser asked.

"The Heartless were using Dimentio from the beginning, just as they used Count Bleck," Riku said. "Unlike the count though, he failed to notice the darkness in his own heart eating away and refused even for a moment to contemplate otherwise. A fitting end for such a fool."

Count Bleck looked away as Riku entered another dark portal. It was clear that the event Riku had mentioned was not something he was proud of.

"What was Riku talking about?" Sora asked.

"While my quest may have been noble once in a search for someone important, it turned into nothing but destruction for a while, destroying the worlds was my revenge for taking her away…" Count Bleck said. "What's odd is that it took Riku to remind me of why I was fighting and yet he's as lost as I was then."

"Hey, you're back to your original goal now, and that's what matters," Sora said. "All that's left is to finish what we came here for."

Count Bleck nodded. "It's time to take you all to the final room, where everything will finally end."


	19. Chapter 19

"We should stop for a moment," Count Bleck said. Sora looked back at the count curiously. "We're not very far from the Keyhole where Riku will be. This could be the last chance you'll get to rest."

"So you're saying we're about to face off against that brat at last?" Bowser smirked.

Count Bleck nodded. "Something is off about him though. I believe this will not be an easy fight. Before we head in, are you sure you're ready to fight your best friend?"

"I'm not worried," Sora said and smiled at Count Bleck. "Riku just needs a little convincing is all. Then I'm sure he'll come back and we can work together to save Kairi." He didn't mention the hidden doubt he had that Damien had mentioned so long ago, that Riku might be too lost in the darkness to find his way out.

"If Sora's able to take him, I'm ready to help," Luigi said.

"I've been wanting to take out Riku since we visited that destroyed world, so there's no way I'm not ready," Bowser said.

"Very well, then it is time for the confrontation," Count Bleck said. He indicated just ahead of him and pointed to a doorway. They all walked forward into the open room. It was somewhat dark, lit by six blue flames in front of six light blue indents blocked off by glass. The corridor led up to a small stage like area with a heart shaped portal behind it leading into a rainbow realm, blocked off by electricity. The heroes walked by the first set, set up across from each other only to see Zelda and a girl with a green top and black hair in white skirt. Both of their eyes were closed as if they were sleeping.

"Zelda?" Luigi looked at the princess before his eyes locked on the next set, a girl in an orange dress with brown hair, so similar in appearance to Peach that they had to be related. Across the way, to all but Count Bleck's surprise, was Peach herself. "Daisy!" he ran over to the brown haired girl.

"Is that Peach?" Sora looked at the princess, barely missing Count Bleck's nod in response. Bowser had already run to her, a look of anger in his eyes, leaving the duo to continue to the final set.

Both girls were fairly unfamiliar, Sora only recognizing one, a girl with pale blonde hair over one of her eyes and a pale blue dress from his strange dream. It took him a moment to realize he'd seen her before in his dream on the stained glass, along with Daisy, Peach, and the dark haired girl from the front.

The girl on the otherside, however, was unfamiliar to him period, her hair was long, falling down to her lower back, and it was a light shade of brown, possibly even a dirty blonde. Her eyes too were closed like she was asleep and she wore a simple white dress. Her hands were holding something that looked almost like Tippi, much to Sora's confusion. When Count Bleck saw her, he ran, much like Luigi and Bowser did to Daisy and Peach. "Timpani…forgive me…" he muttered. Seeing as none of the others were moving from the girls here, Sora continued on alone. He started running up the stairs leading up to the almost stage only to pause momentarily.

Kairi was there, lying on the ground. "Kairi!" He ran towards her, still as unconscious as she was before. "Kairi!" He shook her. "Kairi! Open your eyes!" He was pleading, she was finally with him; she had to wake up.

"It's no use." Riku appeared on top of the giant heart sitting as though bored. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

"What?"  _Riku would never refer to Kairi like that…_ Sora looked up at Riku with shock before it hit him. "You…you're not Riku."

"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps." "Riku" continued his statement, ignoring Sora completely.

"The princess..? Kairi's a princess?" Sora had known her since she was five and she was never a princess on the islands. It would have had to have been from her home world.

"Riku" jumped down off of the heart, landing on the ground in a slowed descent. "Yes, and without her, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!" Sora figured if he was going to fight for one of his best friend's fate, he should save the other one too from the same thing. Both of them deserved their hearts back.

"But first, you must give the princess back hers." "Riku" pointed his Keyblade at Sora's chest and Sora hit the ground as though in pain. A bright light had flashed at the same moment.

"What's-"

"Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding," "Riku" said. "It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you."

It was impossible, he'd been going on the journey to find her, and yet it made perfect sense. Why else did he keep seeing Kairi everywhere, hearing her, even seeing her memory of the story? There was no question about it, it made too much sense. "Riku" was right. "Kairi…Kairi's inside me?"

"I know all there is to know," "Riku" said.

"Tell me. Who are you?" Sora asked. How did he know about Kairi being there, about everything? If it wasn't Riku there was no way he'd know about how Sora had been hallucinating about Kairi and there was no other way to know that she was in there.

"It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness." Ansem, as in the guy who wrote the reports they were hunting down? He was supposed to be the good guy, not possessing Sora's best friend. "So, I shall release you now, princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!" Ansem went in to attack Sora, the Keyblade ready to hit him.

" _Sora!"_

At the sound of Kairi's voice, Sora lifted his Keyblade to block Ansem's attack. "Forget it! There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!" Even if he couldn't save Kairi, he'd protect her heart. Ansem jumped back, firing a dark fireball at Sora that he rolled out of the way of before retaliating with a strike with his Keyblade, met quickly by Ansem's. They both jumped away and Sora threw his Keyblade at Ansem, hitting him before Sora was hit by Ansem, nailing him in the stomach and knocking him back. Sora resummoned his Keyblade to his hand and attacked again, blocking Ansem's attack before retaliating with one of his own.

"Behold the power of darkness." An aura engulfed Ansem and he vanished for a moment, leaving Sora confused before he began teleporting around the arena, his Keyblade pointed at Sora as he struck him at every possible moment. Sora began rapidly running around in an attempt to avoid Ansem's attack. Each attempt failed as he was continually hit from all sides before Ansem finally stopped, sending his Keyblade into the ground and releasing a dark pulse, hitting Sora further.

"Heal!" Sora quickly cast a cure on himself before running at Ansem again, this time powering up his Keyblade with light as he began to rapidly slash at him, each strike hitting its mark as Ansem repeatedly attempted to block the blow before finally the Keyblades hit each other. Ansem disappeared again before repeating his teleporting strike, but this time, Sora was ready as he started to roll out of the way of each blow, predicting where Ansem would appear to hit him next. He rolled out of the way one last time before slashing his Keyblade into Ansem again and again in rapid succession. Sora hit him with one last strike into the center of the arena, where he vanished, leaving his dark Keyblade behind.

"Riku!" Sora reached for where his friend once was. He had beaten the silver haired boy once more, and finally managed to one up him. If he had been back on the islands, with Kairi and Riku both safe, he would have been celebrating the fact that he was finally the island champion, but that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was the fate of his best friends, of saving them both.

"Sora!" Count Bleck had teleported next to Sora with Luigi and Bowser. "Where's Riku?"

"Gone…" Sora said. "He's gone…"

"Sorry about that Sora, but look." Luigi pointed at the Keyhole and Sora nodded, raising his Keyblade at it, he expected it to seal like it had many times before. No beam of light emerged.

"Why isn't it working?" Bowser asked.

"Until the Keyhole is complete, Sora will be unable to seal it," Count Bleck said. He lowered his hat over his eyes. "I will continue to look by the princesses for a way to wake them up and destroy the Keyhole all together. I trust that you will figure out how to complete it."

Sora nodded and tossed his Keyblade to the side, it was obviously useless. Count Bleck floated back over to the six girls, his eyes continually lingering on Timpani.

Luigi and Bowser took the base of the staircase, leaving Sora alone by the Keyhole itself. "If only I could wake Kairi up…but how?" He looked at the Keyblade Ansem had left behind. He'd said something about it when they'd battled Dimentio, something about it opening people's hearts. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts…I wonder."

"Sora?" Luigi heard Sora's voice and watched as Sora picked up the Keyblade. He held it in his hand, examining it for a moment. "What are you-"

Lugi's comment had attracted both Count Bleck's and Bowser's attention. "Sora don't!" Count Bleck shouted.

" _I promise we'll find your friends out there, but if they see you're upset, they might get upset too, so smile, okay?"_ Peach's words that day in Traverse Town echoed in his mind. Maybe if they saw him smile, they would too, both Kairi and his new friends, every single one of them.

_Protect Kairi, okay?_ Sora thought as he lifted up the Keyblade just above him and gave them a smile, a genuine one. It would be hard not to see them all again, to not get to say goodbye, but that was okay. He was going to save Kairi, and that's what mattered. He thrust the Keyblade into his heart.

Sora closed his eyes the moment the blade made contact. It flew out moments later, dissolving into darkness and releasing six balls of light. Each ball of light flew out towards one of the six girls in the glass, hitting their chest and returning to where they belonged, inside of them.

Another ball of light emerged moments later, this one from within Sora. It flew not in the direction of the previous six, but towards Kairi landing on her chest and vanishing like the others had.  _Goodbye, Kairi._

With her heart returned to her, Kairi awoke. She heard the words in her head as she pushed herself off the ground she had been laying on. Her eyes locked on Sora, now glowing and falling backwards, and she completely left the ground standing up. "Sora!" She ran. She'd felt like she was moving in slow motion to reach him, but she had to save him, she couldn't let him disappear. She saw Luigi run towards him at the same time, but she reached him first. The moment her arms touched his body however, it vanished in a bright flash of light. She watched as the final bits of light faded away, her voice deserting her. She could only make a soft gasp in shock.

"Sora! Come back!" Luigi shouted, but in her heart, Kairi knew it didn't make a difference what Luigi shouted.

Her best friend had just stabbed himself in the heart with a Keyblade, sacrificed himself for her.

Sora was never coming back.

 


	20. Chapter 20

They all stood around in shock at Sora's action. There wasn't really a way to react to witnessing anyone die, but the fact that they knew he did it to save Kairi and all the worlds didn't particularly help matters.

"Sora, are you really…" Kairi closed her eyes in an attempt to fight back any tears that were trying to escape. She closed her hand into a fist. "No. He can't be! I won't let him go!"

"Kairi, he's gone," Luigi said, but she shook her head. "We need to get going now and find my brother."

"I don't want to go! Not without Sora!"

"Kairi." Count Bleck walked up behind her. "I know better than anyone else what it's like to lose somebody you love, but if we stick around here we could be in dan-"

Footsteps sounded from behind them all, they turned around to face a dark portal. From inside the portal came a tan man with long silver hair. His eyes were a golden color and he wore a shirt that exposed his chest slightly, revealing the same thorny heart symbol that many of the Heartless had. The dark portal closed behind him moments later. "So, you have awakened at last, princess." The man smirked. "The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over." He walked forward in an attempt, towards them.

Count Bleck lifted up his staff while Bowser and Luigi got into fighting positions, each standing in between Kairi and the man in an attempt to protect her. It was possible she knew how to fight, but they weren't about to take chances. "Get any closer and you'll have to face us."

The man simply took another step forward, or tried to. Something was holding him back. "Impossible…"

"No. You won't use me for this!" Riku appeared, surrounded in a yellow glow, his arms spread out wide. He was protecting them.

"Riku!" Kairi shouted.

"You've got to run! The Heartless are coming!" Riku warned them.

"But Riku-"

"Don't worry about me Kairi, just go!" Accepting Riku's words, Kairi ran down the stairs with the others where the other six girls appeared to be waking up, although only Peach and Timpani had fully awoken.

"Bowser, Luigi?" Peach asked as she looked over the group. "Where's Sora?"

_Sora…_  Peach's question hurt so badly, it hurt all of them, but she couldn't have known. She was unconscious when it happened.

"We'll explain later," Luigi said. "We need to get out of here before the Heartless come, all of us."

"The Heartless?" Peach asked. As if summoned by her question, several of the Heartless swarmed, ranging from the harmless Shadow variety to the Heartless they had encountered throughout the world. "Alright, as soon as we escape them you can tell us all what happened."

_I'm sorry Sora…Riku…_ Kairi looked back one more time, Riku still managing to hold the man back and protecting them.  _I guess I've failed you both…_

"Hey, are you guys planning on sealing off that giant Keyhole?" Timpani asked pointing behind them, the Tippi like item now sitting in only one hand.

"When we get another Keybearer, yes." Questions immediately stopped, and they all just kept running, Count Bleck blasting at any Heartless that got too close to the fleeing party. Their first moment of peace was the lift stop.

"So what happened exactly? Where are we?" Peach asked.

Timpani looked over at Count Bleck, who nodded and turned to them all. "You are in the ruins of the Hollow Bastion, named Castle Bleck by the one who gathered you all here." He looked away after that. "Which would be me."

"So you're Count Bleck?" Peach asked. He nodded again. "Why are you helping us?"

"I'm helping to make up for what I did." Count Bleck looked at Timpani, causing everyone else to look at her. She turned a little pink at the sudden attention. "Because I lost her…"

"The real question isn't why Blumiere's helping us though. Where's Sora?" Timpani tried to change the subject as best as she could.

"How do you know him?" Luigi asked.

"I traveled with him too…" she held out the Tippi like form. With their first ever close up look, they were able to see that it was an exact copy of the Pixl. Bowser, Luigi, and Peach looked at her in shock, but she just nodded to their unasked question. "By the time I learned the truth, we were already preparing to leave Traverse Town. Only Sora knew. He was my friend just like he was yours, and I want to know where he is."

"Not in front of Kairi," Luigi said.

"Tell them. It's okay…" Kairi said.

"Why wouldn't it be okay?" Peach asked in confusion.

"In order to wake the seven of you up…Sora had to stab himself with a very special Keyblade," Count Bleck said. "Sora sacrificed himself for you all. He's dead."

Peach and Timpani looked at each other with surprise and horror. Having met Sora personally, they had all become friends with him. Timpani was the first to speak. "Kairi, I'm so sorry."

"It's just who Sora is…he'll always protect his friends before himself," Kairi said it as though the statement made it alright. The heartbroken look on her face said otherwise. The lift stopped moving.

"We need to keep moving," Count Bleck said. "Come on."

"What's going to happen to the others, the one's still waking up?" Peach asked.

Count Bleck looked away. "So long as they aren't active, I can't imagine the Heartless chasing after them."

"So where do we go next." Bowser asked.

"Straight. We're near the entrance chamber," Count Bleck said. "Hopefully my minions made it out in time though."

Following the hall through to its end, they arrived back where Sora fought Riku for that final battle. Five of them arrived at the final door, ready to leave, but Kairi held back. "Come on Kairi, we don't have all day!" Bowser shouted.

Kairi looked at them and back at the stairs. Getting away from a fight they couldn't win was one thing, but it was another entirely to leave the world and her friends without at least trying to save them. "I can't leave them behind."

"It's not like we can stay here though Kairi, when we return to Traverse Town we can come up with a new plan, but if you die that won't happen," Timpani said.

Timpani was right and Kairi knew it. She just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that she could still do, and it had nothing to do with the Keyhole. She started down the stairway to the gate when she felt something touch her. She turned around to see a Shadow Heartless.

"I'll take care of him." Count Bleck raised his staff, but Kairi put her hand out to stop him. She looked at the Heartless. It wasn't attacking; it was just staring at her as though expecting her to do something. "Sora? Is that you?"

"Kairi?" The others stared at her like she'd lost it, but none of them had the heart to tell her it was just another Heartless. An army of Heartless surrounded them.

"We'll take care of them!" Luigi said. The heroes began to attack the Heartless as they came, Timpani using magic to hurt them.

Kairi got into a defensive position in front of the Heartless as other Heartless swarmed. "This time I'll protect you." The Heartless lunged for her. "Sora!" She wrapped her arms around the Heartless and closed her eyes tight. She could feel their claws scratching against her, but she couldn't let them hurt Sora.

Dimly she was aware that outside of the darkness surrounding her, somebody was calling her name in a panic, trying to attack the Heartless around her, but all that mattered was protecting Sora.  _If I become a Heartless, do you think that we can destroy everything together? The three of us, destroying worlds as Heartless, sound like a deal?_

" _You won't become a Heartless Kairi, I'll protect you."_ A bright light flashed, bright enough she could see it through her eyelids, and the Heartless were gone. In place of the Heartless that had once been in her arms was a warm body, one whose arms were wrapped around her. "Kairi, thank you."

It couldn't be, everything told her it couldn't be true, but when she opened her eyes, Sora's arms were wrapped around her, he was really there. "Sora…"

"Sora!" They all cheered and looked at the Keybearer. He smiled at them.

"How..?" Kairi asked. Had she turned him human once more?

"Come on, we have to get going!" Count Bleck said. "The Heartless won't stop until we've left this world."

"They'll still chase after us…" Peach said. She pulled out her parasol. "I can handle the Heartless, you all should head to safety."

"But Peach-"

"Don't worry about me Sora. I'll meet up with the other girls and see if I can find Count Bleck's minions." After a moment, Sora gave the princess a small nod.

"Let's go!" They ran out of the castle gates.


	21. Chapter 21

"So, the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole?" Leon asked. Sora, Luigi, Kairi, and Bowser decided to ask Leon what to do while Timpani and Count Bleck visited Merlon. They had just finished recounting the story of Hollow Bastion's events to him and the other citizens of Traverse Town. "

"No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere," Aerith said. "The only way to stop them is-"

"Seal the Keyhole, right?" Sora asked and summoned his Keyblade.

"Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed," Leon said.

"Well, we can't just stay here," Sora said. "We have to do something. I've got a friend back there." His mind turned to Riku. He wasn't quite sure what happened to his friend when he stopped the man, who he assumed was Ansem, but it couldn't have been good. And so long as Riku was fighting, there had to be some of him left.

"That's right. You have one more friend left to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princess's hearts-just like the Keyhole you saw." He looked at Kairi. "Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Don't worry. If anyone can save your friend, you can."

"I thought the Keyhole would strengthen the darkness. I mean the darkness is strong, but still…" Aerith said. "It's almost as if something's holding the darkness back."

"The other five princesses," Luigi said. "Only Peach, Timpani, and Kairi had woken up when we went to leave. I bet they stayed behind to guard over the Keyhole and prevent darkness from escaping, and even then Peach ended up staying behind."

"Perhaps," Aerith said.

"Hey Sora, if you want to go back and check it out, I betcha Cid has something," Yuffie said.

"Well, let's go talk to him!" Kairi grabbed Sora and started dragging him out. Luigi and Bowser went to follow, but the ninja put her hand out in front of them.

"Let the two of them have some time alone. That's why I sent them," she said with a snicker at the end.

"Then how are we supposed to know when the Starshroom is ready?" Bowser asked.

"Just go after them in ten minutes and wait where Cid is, okay?" Yuffie asked.

* * *

 

"Cid, I need to go back to Hollow Bastion," Sora said. Kairi smiled and swatted at him. "Hey!"

"Shouldn't you actually say hello to him first?" Kairi asked and stuck her hand out to Cid as he looked at her with confusion. "I'm Kairi."

"So you're one of Sora's missing friends?" Cid asked. She nodded. "Good to know. Now what were you saying, kid?"

"We need a way to get back to Hollow Bastion," Sora said.

"I don't think I can let you do that," Cid said. "The Heartless there are multiplying by the minute. They'd eat your ship up."

"Then what can we do?" Sora asked.

"Simple, go around 'em instead of through. Another Power Star should allow your ship to go anywhere," Cid said.

"A new Power Star? From where?" Sora asked.

"The secret waterway," Cid answered. "When I first came here, I found it hiding there. Never thought a kid would be the one to use it!"

"Thanks Cid," Sora said, choosing to ignore the comment. "There's a short cut to the waterway near here, come on!" Sora started pulling Kairi away.

"Alright," Kairi said and started walking along with him as he walked passed a set of crates into the alleyway. They walked through the alley, their feet splashing along the water until it became too deep to walk and they had to swim. They arrived on a small island of land underneath. "Is this it?"

"Yeah, if we step onto the platform over there, we'll arrive in Merlon's temporary residence," Sora said. "It's got to be hiding somewhere."

"Have you checked over the whole of this place before?" she asked. Sora nodded. "Then you must not be looking hard enough." She put her hands on a painting on the wall of a sun in a small hallway branching off of a pathway.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"There's something here. I feel its light," Kairi said and pushed, revealing the small glowing yellow star.

"A Power Star!" Sora grabbed it and put it in his pocket. "You found it!"

"I did, didn't I?" she asked and giggled.

"Let's go back and join the others. We should rest up." Sora went to walk away, but Kairi didn't respond. "Kairi?"

"A light at the end of the tunnel…" Kairi said, looking back at the mural.

Sora heard and walked back over. "Oh, your grandma's story, right?"

"That's right," Kairi said. "We were together."

"You know what's funny? I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along." Sora smiled. He was happy to finally be reunited with Kairi. "Finally, we're together, Kairi." He moved slightly closer to her. "Now, it's time to get Riku back."

"You think it'll ever be the same again between us?" Kairi asked. "Riku's lost his…"

"When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?" Sora asked. He didn't enjoy that time in the darkness, but he had to tell her. "I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things-my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me. But then I heard a voice-your voice. You brought me back."

"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora," Kairi said. "I couldn't."

"That's it! Our hearts are connected." He put his hand over his heart and she smiled, doing the same with her own hand. "And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."

"Well, let's go." Kairi went to walk away, but that gave Sora a pause. Kairi coming wasn't part of his plan at all.

"You can't go."

"Why not?" she asked in confusion.

"Because it's way too dangerous!" Sora argued.

She put her hands behind her back and leaned forward slightly. "Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone."

_I'm not going alone, I have Luigi, Bowser, Timpani, and Blumiere for help._ Sora thought. "Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?"

"I can't help?" Kairi asked, her voice held an offended tone and she had started frowning.

"You'd kind of be in my way," he said.

She sighed slightly before giggling. "Okay. You win." She grabbed his hand and put a pink star made out of shells in his hand with brown hair and a smiley drawn on the uppermost shell. Holding them together was a piece of string tied to a silver crown much like Sora's necklace. "Take this. It's my lucky charm, so be sure to bring it back to me." She leaned forward, her hands on her hips.

"Don't worry, I will." Sora smiled.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Promise."

"Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you." Kairi smiled at him and watched him walk out of the waterway, choosing to hang behind for a couple more minutes before heading up as well.

* * *

 

"So this is who you truly are Tippi?" Merlon asked. Timpani nodded. "I suppose I should have foreseen that one day you would regain your human form."

"Thank you Merlon, for saving my life," Timpani said and looked at Count Bleck hesitantly. "I have a request for both of you though."

"Both of us?" Count Bleck asked. "What do you need both of us for?"

"Well, it's separate requests really," she said. "Blumiere, I want to try turning you back to how you were before. I probably need to do that before I fulfill Merlon's request."

"You mean my body right?" Count Bleck gestured to his missing legs. "I should figure out how to get that back?"

"If I may, you said Sora regained his form after Kairi's light protected him?" Merlon asked. They both nodded. "And the Dark Prognosticus is the thing that gave Count Ble-Blumiere this form. If Timpani is a Princess of Heart, much like Kairi, then she should have the same darkness combating light within her. If the two of you manage to channel that light, perhaps Blumiere will return to his original form."

"Kairi doesn't even know what she did? She just hugged him as far as the rest of us can tell," Blumiere said.

Timpani hesitated before speaking. "She told me that she'd just thought about protecting him, and how when she realized she couldn't she thought about how the three of them could destroy the worlds together. Those thoughts of spending forever with Sora and Riku might have been enough to bring Sora back…"

"Without taking credence from your theory, I believe Sora also had a part in it too," Merlon said. "She may have brought him out, but he clung to her first. He didn't attack her for a reason. That reason is their connection. If you can find that same connection in both of your hearts then I have faith the two of you will be able to do it. Until you figure out how to do that however, what did you wish to ask of me?"

"Oh, I…" Timpani smiled slightly. "I want to join Sora in the fight ahead, but I know he'll need my scans again. I was hoping to turn back into my Tippi form."

"In your Tippi form? Are you sure?" Merlon asked.

"Yes," Timpani said. "My magic isn't nearly as strong as it could be and the Pixl body is still in good condition. It wouldn't be permanent, would it?"

"It could be. Nobody's ever put a person that wasn't dying inside of a Pixl before. There's never been a fully functioning body for the user to return to. If both of you are willing to risk this, I'll do it."

"I don't support the decision, but she believes she needs to do it," Count Bleck said. "And if she truly wants to do this, she can. Besides, after this I'll be searching the Realm of Darkness for Riku."

"And Dimentio managed to recreate my body to bring me back to it to form the Keyhole. If he could figure it out, then there must be a way. Even if it takes years to find that knowledge, it's out there, and so long as I have my memories, it's not a big deal if I'm a Pixl for the rest of my life."

Merlon nodded. "Very well. I'll get the body ready to once more receive your heart. When I come back, I'll transfer you in." He walked away to a room in the back of the house.

"This is your last chance to back out. With the two of us together, our magic is definitely powerful enough together," Count Bleck said.

"Blumiere, somebody needs to find Riku and only a Tribe of Darkness can lead him out. We both know this is best." She looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Do you want me to stay with you when he comes back?" Count Bleck asked.

"No. It'll be hard on you. My body will be missing a heart. I'll look like I'm dead, and I can't put you through that again, even if I'll just interact with you when I wake up as a Pixl moments later." She put her hand on his.

"Then this will be goodbye," Count Bleck said, giving her a sad smile.

"It's only a small while longer. We'll be together soon. I promise," she said.

"I hope that's a promise you can keep." He teleported away just as Merlon entered the room.

"He's not staying?" Timpani shook her head. "Very well. The body is ready for you."

* * *

 

"There you two are," Sora said as he waved to Luigi and Bowser.

"Sorry," Luigi said. "Yuffie held us back."

"Really?" Sora asked. "Why?"

"With her, who knows," Bowser said.

Cid walked up to them. "You found it? I'll put it in the Starshroom." He walked away after Sora handed him the Power Star.

"Where'd you get that?" Luigi asked.

"The waterway in the alley," Sora answered.

"And that's going to get us back to Hollow Bastion?" Bowser asked.

"Yup." Sora smiled.

"Are you three ready to go?" They all turned around to see Merlon with Tippi behind him.

"Timpani?" Sora asked in surprise.

She flew over to them. "I'm a lot more useful as a scanner for the time being. I asked Merlon to turn me back into a Pixl to help."

"And Blumiere?" Sora asked, his eyes looking for Count Bleck.

"He's looking for Riku in the Realm of Darkness…" Tippi said.

"So it'll be just the four of us again," Luigi said. "Hey Merlon, why did you come?"

"I came to deliver one last wish of good luck to you, heroes," Merlon said. "And to tell you that no matter how dark things seem, I believe the four of you will succeed in the upcoming battle. The end of this journey is near; remember that as the worlds throw everything they can against you."

"I will, thank you Merlon, for teaching me magic," Sora said.

"It was my pleasure Sora. I hope that after this, we shall be able to meet again in the future." With those final words, Merlon left Traverse Town through the gate in the first district.

"Where's he going?" Bowser asked.

"Flipside…his home…" Tippi said softly.

Cid returned to the heroes. "All set! You can get going at anytime. Kid, I gotta say, I wish you didn't have to face all this danger. Don't get cocky just 'cause you've been there before. That castle's probably crawling with 'em now."

"Thanks Cid, for everything," Sora said.

"Just don't go getting yourself killed," Cid said.

For the final time, the four of them left Traverse Town behind them.

* * *

 

It was a dark place, one he'd never been. Riku stumbled forward somewhat blindly. "Sora…Kairi…I'm sorry…" he said as he wandered the dark realm. "Is this the afterworld?"

Suddenly, he felt faint. His form losing focus as it started to fade into the darkness around him. "I'm not ready. Not yet. Not until I see Sora and Kairi one last time…"

" _Riku, can you hear me? I'll be there soon."_

"Who is that?" Riku looked around in confusion.

" _I have the Keyblade-the one that belongs to this world. I've been trying to get through to you Riku, but the darkness in your heart kept me away."_

"Who are you? What's happened to me?" Riku asked.

" _Your heart won the battle against darkness, but it was too late for your body. That's why you're here-in this place of darkness where hearts are gathered."_

"So what do we do?" Riku asked.

" _The Door of Darkness will open soon, but it's a door we can't enter. It has to be closed from both sides. To do this, you need two keys and two hearts. Maybe you're here for the same reason I am. Maybe it's fate."_

"Fate, huh? You seem to know everything, don't you? Then tell me: Are Sora and Kairi okay?"

An image of Sora began to run along the path in front of him.

" _Don't you feel the echoes of their hearts? You already know the answer. Look inside your own heart."_

"Okay." Riku began to walk along the path, planning to meet the mysterious voice when he saw a familiar figure. "Count?"

"So you are here, Riku," Count Bleck said.

"So you weren't the voice?" Riku asked. Count Bleck shook his head.

"Voice? No. But we should find who was, I don't mind one journey through the Realm of Darkness to find them."

"Thank you, for helping," Riku said. "And I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"It's not your fault Riku. I do have a request in exchange for helping you out," Count Bleck said. "I want you to call me by my real name, Blumiere."


	22. Chapter 22

"Peach!" The four heroes ran up to the pink clad princess as she stood in the lobby of the castle, where the Starshroom conveniently dropped them.

"You guys came back," Peach said with a smile. She looked at Tippi with confusion, but didn't ask. "The other four sent me out to wait for you."

"Wait for us?" Sora asked.

Peach nodded. "They wanted to speak to you about the Keyhole. Rosalina was acting like it's important."

"Is that space princess why you're still here?" Bowser asked with a growl.

"No, the Keyhole is." Peach stepped onto the lift, followed closely by the others.

"Did you ever find out what happened to Nastasia, Mimi, and O'Chunks?" Tippi asked.

"Yes. They're currently safe inside the library putting every lock available on the Dark Prognosticus. If Nastasia has it her way, nobody will ever find that book again," Peach said. "Both O'Chunks and Mimi wish to apologize for attacking you all."

"Well, I forgive them. You guys?" Sora asked.

"I do too," Luigi said. Bowser just crossed his arms and turned away. They all laughed.

"I guess some things don't change," Peach said.

"Do you have any plans to travel with us after this?" Tippi asked.

Peach shook her head. "After this is over, I'll have to return to my kingdom. As a princess, it's my duty to return to it after this. It was a nice break though."

"Well, you're always welcome to come with us when you want." Sora smiled as the lift arrived at the top. The exited for the room right in front of the final Keyhole, where the four other girl's remained.

"Sora, these are Shiki, Rosalina, Daisy, and you already know Zelda. Guys, these are Tippi, Luigi, Bowser, and Sora." Peach indicated them.

"So you're the Keyblade master." Rosalina looked him over. "We've been waiting for you, all four of you."

"Where's Ansem?" Sora asked.

"Gone," Daisy said. "And good riddance to that creep."

"When the Keyhole appeared, darkness poured out and it swallowed Ansem," Rosalina said.

"Ansem might be gone, but it hasn't stopped the flood of darkness either Sora," Zelda said.

"Forget that! He had a smile on his face when he disappeared into the darkness. It was just creepy," Shiki said. "But you all have to hurry. He can't hold the darkness flood back much longer."

"You guys can't?" Luigi asked.

"No, we can't," Peach said. "And if we don't hold it back, this world will be destroyed. It's why I needed to get you."

"All right, we're on it," Sora said.

"We're counting on you to do what you can," Zelda said.

"Ansem ignored us when he first arrived, and he probably won't return," Daisy said.

"So please, seal the Keyhole before the darkness overwhelms this world," Rosalina said.

"Alright, come on guys, let's go," Sora said. They entered the Keyhole room, the room Sora lost his heart in. The portal was still open, as it should have been.

They entered into the rainbow colored realm, nothing inside but the Keyhole at the end. As Sora went to approach it, a Heartless appeared. It was large and purple with large tusks and a horn on its head. "Woah!"

"What is that thing?" Luigi asked.

"A Behemoth, a rather large and powerful Heartless. The only place it can be hurt is the horn on its head, you'll need to destroy that in order to kill it." Tippi was right that her Tippi form was valuable, seeing as it could gain all that information with a glance.

"Right, well, let's go." Sora ran at the Heartless and attempted to jump up high enough to hit its horn, but the Heartless seemed only vaguely interested as it stepped right on top of Sora the moment he landed, missing the horn completely.

"Let's try this!" Luigi jumped higher than Sora and nearly into the horn, but fell just short, missing the Heartless's horn completely and falling prey to an attack. It did lower its horn briefly, allowing them to attack it for a moment only to be hit by it once more by a ball of darkness it fired. "I don't get it, how are we supposed to attack something we can't hit."

"Like this." Bowser had climbed onto the Behemoth's back and breathed fire on its horn. He aggravated the Heartless, causing it to fire lightning bolt at him that he avoided by ducking inside of his shell. He started clawing at it again and again, causing a scream of pain from the Heartless. Sora and Luigi looked at each other and smiled before running onto the Behemoth's back as well. Sora jumped up its leg and up while Luigi made the jump in one try. After reaching the top, Sora started to rapidly slash at the horn while Luigi started to punch and kick it. It collapsed after several hard hits from the three caused its horn to shatter. It followed too moments later, releasing a pink heart as it disappeared.

"Now it's time to seal that Keyhole," Luigi said.

"Sora. You did it." The voice sounded like Leon, and it was coming from outside of the Keyhole. Luigi and Bowser watched as Sora exited the area. Just outside the dark portal were Aerith, Yuffie, and Leon.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked.

"We came in Cid's Gummi Ship," Yuffie said.

"This is our childhood home." Aerith answered the unasked question of why. "We wanted to see it again."

"It's in worse shape than I feared," Leon said. "It used to be so peaceful…"

Aerith smiled. "Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including your island."

Sora was surprised. He'd thought his island would be gone forever, the idea that it could come back and he could save it excited him. If his home came back, did it mean Timpani's and Blumiere's home could come back as well. "Really?"

"But it also means goodbye." Yuffie frowned.

"Goodbye?" Tippi asked, voicing Sora's question before he had a chance. That didn't make sense.

"Yes, once all the worlds are restored, they'll all be separate again," Aerith explained.

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," Yuffie said.

Sora shook his head.  _How will that separate us?_ "Then I'll just visit you guys with the Starshroom."

"It's not that simple." Leon crossed his arms.

"Before all this, you didn't know about other worlds, right?" Yuffie asked.

"Because every world was divided. Impassable walls divided them," Aerith said.

"The Heartless destroyed those wall," Yuffie said. "But if the worlds will return, so will the walls."

"Which means the Starshroom will be useless," Leon said.

"But Peach, Luigi, Bowser, Timpani, and Blumiere all knew of the worlds, traveled the worlds before the Heartless were really a problem," Sora said.

"Sora, Peach and Luigi only knew because of a comet that breaks the world barriers every one hundred years and Blumiere and I are from a world that's very nature involves protecting the secret of other worlds. Even then, I would have never been able to break the world's barrier without that curse or Blumiere's help. My magic's too dilute," Tippi said.

"What about Kairi? How did she come to the island?" Sora asked.

"I don't know, but if she came alone, I doubt she came by spaceship," Tippi said. "I'm sorry Sora, but I think they're right."

"So you're saying we'll never…"

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other," Leon said.

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith said.

"Besides," Yuffie said with a laugh. "I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.

"Sora!" Luigi shouted for him.

"You better hurry and close that Keyhole!" Bowser shouted.

"Sora, good luck," Leon said. Sora nodded and went to the Keyhole.

A beam of light exited his Keyblade, sealing the Keyhole off and preventing the darkness from escaping. As the group walked by the princesses, Peach stopped him. "Thank you, Sora. The darkness is going away now."

"But it isn't gone forever," Rosalina said. "Somewhere far off from here, a greater darkness has gathered."

"We'll take care of the Heartless and Ansem," Sora said.

"A good answer Sora. Remember, after this, your home will return," Zelda said. "After that, you and your friends will return home."

"Back to the islands?" Sora asked with a smile.

"Yeah, it should return," Daisy said.

"Well, I can't go home. Not until I find Riku, Blumiere, and Luigi's brother," Sora said.

"Yes, until you find Mario and them, I suppose you can't go home," Peach said with a smile.

"Hopefully, we'll all be able to head home soon. I miss Shibuya," Shiki said.

"Well, we're going-" Sora's statement was interrupted as a white portal appeared in the room, surprising them all.

"I don't like the way it feels," Peach said. "It feels dark."

"No, not dark," Rosalina said. "Wrong, neither light nor dark." She looked to Sora. "I hate to ask more favors, but can you check it out?"

"Sure," Sora said and nodded. He walked into the white portal, followed by Luigi and Bowser. A black cloaked figure waited for him. The figure walked through Sora.

" _No problem. Let's do it!"_

" _Hold on! What's that over there?"_

" _She arrived on the night of the meteor shower!"_

" _A huge black thing swallowed me up."_

" _So, you're from another world?"_

" _A paopu fruit..."_

" _What? There's no way you're getting this!"_

" _I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi."_

" _The Keyblade..."_

" _The Heartless?"_

" _I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi..."_

" _Hey! Let Zelda go!"_

" _Yeah! I did it! See, that's the power of the Keyblade!"_

" _You'll find it. I'm searching too."_

" _We can't abandon her, she's our friend."_

" _So he doesn't show that he cares well?"_

" _If Kirby managed to use this?"_

" _I do."_

" _You're stupid. Sooner or later they'll swallow your heart."_

" _I've finally found her."_

" _I still can't believe it."_

" _I know this place..."_

" _No. Not without Kairi."_

" _I know now I don't need a Keyblade."_

" _I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"_

" _Give him back his heart!"_

" _There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"_

" _A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts... I wonder."_

" _What's... What's happening to me?"_

" _Falling...falling...into darkness."_

" _Kairi, thank you."_

" _Now, it's time to get Riku back."_

" _Even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore."_

" _Don't worry. I will. Promise."  
_

As the memories started to flash through Sora's mind he fell to the ground. He looked behind him at the figure, who had stopped. "Who are you?"

"Ah, it seems you are special too," the figure said. Judging by its voice, it sounded like a male was speaking.

"Ansem?" Luigi asked.

"That name has a familiar ring to it." The man raised his hand and summoned a ball of energy to his hand. "You remind me of him."

Sora glared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you are not whole," the man said. He threw the ball of energy at Sora, who sent it flying. "You are incomplete. Allow me-to test your strength." The man ran at Sora, two blades of red light emerged from his hands and hit the Keyblade Wielder, knocking him back. Sora ran at him only for the blade to be blocked. Sora looked to Tippi for help.

"That's-" Tippi's scan was cut off as she was hit by the red blades, causing Sora to glare.

"I cannot allow you to receive help," the man said. Tippi had already fallen to the ground and it spurred Luigi and Bowser into action. Luigi ran at the man, sending a fireball at him, which the man just deflected before hitting Luigi into Bowser. The moment they hit the ground, he formed a barrier. "They are not to interfere."

"But-" the man interrupted Sora by launching an attack with his glowing red blades. Sora lifted up his Keyblade just in time to block the strike and pushed him back. The man proceeded to throw balls of darkness at Sora, which we avoided at every direction by rolling out of the way, much like when he dodged Riku-Ansem's rapid fire attack. When the darkness stopped firing, blue lasers began an attack Sora was unprepared for as several hit him. He stood up.

"Heal!" A green light swept over Sora as he cast Cure before starting to attack the man once more, each attack seeming to do no damage as the man simply brought out his red blades and started beating Sora with them once more, putting the Keyblade Wielder on the defensive once more as he desperately tried to avoid the attacks. They seemed to stop, and Sora took advantage of that, stabbing at the man's heart. A red light glowed there for a moment, which the man sent away.

"Impressive," the man said and lowered the barrier, stopping his assault completely. "This will be enjoyable."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked and ran at him. The man stopped time for that moment as he walked through Sora. He turned around to face the man once more.

"It is beyond your comprehension, for now." The man turned to look at Sora. "Until we meet again."

"Wait, what are you-"

The man started to disappear. "I am-" Sora approached him and he vanished completely. "…but a mere shell."

"Sora, Tippi!" Luigi pointed to Tippi. Sora ran to the butterfly Pixl.

"Heal!" He cast a Cure on her and she began floating moments later.

"Thank you," Tippi said.

"No problem. Hey Timpani, did you get to scan that guy?" Sora asked her.

"No, he knocked me out before I could," Tippi said. "I'm sorry Sora, I didn't even learn who he was."

* * *

"So, you're still here?" Mimi asked as the heroes entered the library.

"We wanted to check and see how the three of you are holding up here," Tippi said. "What are you all going to do once the worlds are saved and all?"

"Well, we were plannin' on jus' stayin' 'ere," O'Chunks said. "I don' think I'd be welcomed if I were to return to me 'omeworld after all."

"Most of us don't have a world we can return to," Nastasia said. "We'll all be much happier here."

"That's good, and the Dark Prognosticus?" Sora asked.

"Sealed up tight where nobody can get it. I found these where I hid it." Nastasia handed Sora several papers labeled "Ansem Report". "Yeah, you'll have more use for these than us."

"Thanks," Sora said with a smile.

"I guess we finally found the lost Ansem Reports," Luigi said.

"So Timpani, can I ask you something?" Nastasia asked.

"Sure…" Tippi said.

"Where's the count?"

"Oh yeah, the count isn't here, but he left with you guys," Mimi said. "Shouldn't he be here?"

"Blumiere's looking for Riku," Tippi said. Nastasia nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Come on. Let's just get going already," Bowser said with a grumble.

"Right, thanks for all your help," Sora said, specifically to Nastasia. "I hope we'll get to see you guys again and actually have time to become friends."

On that note, they left the Hollow Bastion behind. It was time for the final battle to begin.


	23. Chapter 23

The world they arrived in was empty, a wide expanse of purple water with small islands of real land floating around, if they could even be called that. It was empty, and dark. Sora, Luigi, and Bowser looked around in surprise.

"This is all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" Luigi asked.

"I believe so. Where the hearts of the lost worlds gathered. This is where Ansem intends to make his last stand," Tippi said.

"Those worlds will be restored when we defeat Ansem, right?" Sora asked.

"That's what it sounded like," Tippi said.

"But if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's going to happen to this place? And to us?" Sora asked.

"Well…it's a Heartless world right?" Luigi asked. "It'll probably just go away like the Heartless should."

"What? You mean we're walking into a suicide mission to save the worlds?" Bowser asked in anger.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Tippi said. "I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Yeah, you're right," Sora said and pulled out the lucky charm Kairi gave him.  _I'll return this. I promise._

They began to walk on the purple water towards a bright light glowing in the front of the world. It was empty, almost too empty for a world they would have been expecting to be swarmed with Heartless. As they got closer to the exit of the empty expanse, an orb of darkness appeared above them, rapidly falling until it landed on them. When the darkness cleared, they were on a large island with a Behemoth Heartless standing in front of them, this one just slightly smaller than the one they fought in Hollow Bastion.

"This guy again?" Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"We'll just take him out like we did before." Sora nodded to Luigi's statement and rushed onto the Behemoth's back, climbing up its knee first, followed by its back. The Heartless seemed smarter than the first, for after several hits from Sora's Keyblade it shook him off its back, knocking him to the ground and underfoot. It fired several dark balls at him, which he reflected back at the horn before climbing back on. Luigi and Bowser had managed to get on his back and were rapidly attacking the horn with a combination of claws and fire. Sora, back on top with them, joined in the rapid attacks, once more hitting the horn with his Keyblade while avoiding or blocking the Behemoth's lightning strikes. It fell quickly.

The world reverted to normal, just as it was before. "I hope we don't have to fight another one," Luigi said.

"Don't say that, now we'll have to fight one more," Sora said. No Behemoths or balls of darkness fell from the sky interrupting their path, and it wasn't long until they final arrived at the purple light, leading inside of a giant cavern filled with green webs and crystals.

"I bet this place could have been a pretty world at one point," Luigi said. "If it weren't a Heartless one of course."

"It's not like the other worlds we've been to, or even the ones I saw while cursed. It's empty…untouched," Tippi said. "It's beautiful, yes, but sad."

"Only a Heartless would be happy with a world like this," Sora said. "Which is why Ansem has to be hiding here."

"Hmph, let's just hurry so I can head home," Bowser said and crossed his arms.

They started their descent slowly, jumping downward from each level and descending deeper and deeper into the darkness as they went. Still against expectations, the Heartless didn't attack, but seemed to just let them pass by into the next area, where there was nothing ahead, although a large pillar of purple fire could be seen a distance away.

"If you step forward, it should launch you towards it," Tippi said. Sora stepped forward and suddenly the four of them were nearby the flames. He walked inside.

When the bright light cleared, they were in Traverse Town, surrounded by Heartless, many harmless overall, just the Soldier and Large Body variety, but it was still a surprise. Sora began to charge at each soldier, slicing at them with his Keyblade while Bowser and Luigi each took on one of the two Large Bodies that had appeared. Within minutes, the Heartless were gone, but they were still trapped in Traverse Town.

"Well this is great, how are we gonna get out?" Bowser asked and glared at Sora.

"Hey, I hadn't expected it to take us away like this!" Sora argued back.

"It can't be that hard…" Tippi looked around the area, but it appeared they might have actually been taken back to Traverse Town. "I suppose it won't hurt to check in on Kairi while we've returned, right?"

"Huh, oh yeah, we can," Sora smiled and went over to the door that led into the first district. He pushed on it, expecting it to open, but the door stayed closed. "I guess we'll have to go the long way." The moment they entered the door to the second district, they were back by the fire, able to see another one glowing purple in the distance.

"Now we know how to exit these things," Luigi said and they entered the next launch area, sending them to the next purple flame. Sora entered inside the flame and found himself this time back in Hyrule's fields. Stalfos and Skulltulla Heartless appeared around them. Bowser's flames quickly roasted the Skulltulla Heartless while Sora and Luigi rapidly beat up the Stalfos until no more Heartless arrived. Sora went in the direction of the Hyrule Castle, only to reappear once more beside the flames.

* * *

 

"How many more of these are there?" Sora asked as he sliced through the last robotic Heartless from Mobius on Eggman's Egg Carrier.

"Well, we've visited Traverse Town, Hyrule, Smash World, Bitlands, Dreamland, my home, Treasure Town, and the Unova League so far," Tippi said. "So counting this world…that makes nine of the ten we've visited."

"Just Hollow Bastion left," Sora said as they emerged from the column of flames. The one ahead was not purple like all of the prior ones, but was instead red, a bright angry red. They launched forward towards it and walked in.

If the pillar had teleported them to Hollow Bastion, it was a part of the world he'd never seen before. It appeared to be a hallway filled with red and black holes, slowly eating away at it. At the end of the hall was the black and red thorny heart. Two Heartless formed, similar in appearance to the one that appeared in Sora's dream, only smaller with swords.

"Those are Invisibles, powerful Heartless that fire balls of darkness and swords. They are very fast and dangerous, so be careful." With Tippi's warning, the heroes leapt into battle. Sora took on one while Bowser and Luigi challenged the other. Sora slammed his Keyblade into it immediately, but it quickly retaliated by firing eight balls of darkness at him. He rolled out of the way, but a couple still hit him. He glared before lunging at it once more, this time the Invisible disappeared completely, leaving behind its sword in the ground. Small purple fireballs surrounded Sora as he moved and suddenly the Invisible appeared, sending out a pulse of darkness which he barely dodged. He ran at it once more, slashing at the Invisible before it once more sent the eight dark balls at him. He lifted his Keyblade up, reflecting them back at the Invisible, which once more disappeared. This time however, its sword began flying at him in a similar fashion to Riku. He rolled around the ground in a desperate attempt to avoid it before finally slashing through the Heartless once it reappeared. It disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

Bowser and Luigi appeared to fare much better than Sora did, the two working together seemed to be a challenge for the Invisible as it was blasted by Bowser's flames while attempting to hit Luigi with the same balls of darkness. When its sword flew at Bowser, he ducked in his shell, causing the sword to simply rebound upwards and away from him. The moment the Invisible reappeared, Luigi performed an uppercut beneath it, effectively causing it to vanish.

Since they were in unfamiliar territory, they had no idea of what way to go to exit the area. As they were considering jumping through one of the black and red holes, a door opened up, leading to a lab like room with a device on the center. "What's with this place?" Bowser asked.

"Well, assuming it's Hollow Bastion and Ansem did all the research on the heart, I'd say this could have been Ansem's lab," Tippi said as she looked around the room. "I don't see anything interesting here though."

"Hang on, what about this," Sora said and pointed to a panel on the device with writing on it. "It says 'Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage the worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens.'" He finished reading the panel. They all sat quiet for a moment as though trying to figure out what it meant.

"I'd say it's important," Tippi said finally, "but I don't believe we should believe it. This is what Ansem believed, but I don't believe Kingdom Hearts is all darkness, do you?"

"But if at its core is darkness…" Sora shook his head in an effort to forget what he read. "You're right, we shouldn't believe it, let's go." He jumped into one of the holes, which lead into the area where the red flame once lingered, however, now there was no flame to be seen.

"I guess we go that way," Luigi said and jumped down, followed by Sora, Bowser, and Tippi. Below the pit was level ground. A large white mechanical dragon rose out of it, creating a large hole.

"WHO ARE YOU. STATE YOUR REASON FOR TRESPASSING IN THE END OF THE WORLD."

Tippi seemed surprised. "I've heard of you, you're Wracktail, the fallen guardian of Flipside."

"YOU COME FROM FLIPSIDE. THAT MEANS YOU ARE ENEMIES. NOW ENTERING ATTACK MODE." Wracktail said as it rose into the surprisingly large air space around them.

"Way to go Tippi," Bowser said. They ducked out of the way of his attack, diving to the right as he flew between them, scarcely managing to avoid his jaws.

"He shouldn't be hard. Wracktail partially malfunctions, but so long as you can get on his back, you should be able to attack him…" she seemed lost in thought for a moment. "The only thing is, how is he here? He should be terrorizing the people who find themselves lost in the Flipside pit…"

"Ansem probably brought him in," Sora said. They watched as Wracktail flew in from beside them. While the dragon chomped at the ground, they jumped onto his back. Little robotic duck like creatures walked along his back. All of them turned to face the heroes as they arrived. Sora waved at them, and they began firing eye lasers at them.

"Lasers?" Luigi asked as he ducked out of the way of one.

"Wrackles are the defense mechanism of Wracktail, they attack anyone who tries to hurt him with their lasers," Tippi said.

"Thanks for the warning," Bowser grumbled. He and Luigi started taking out the Wrackles. They fell quickly to either Luigi's feet while he jumped on them or Bowser's flames.

This left Sora to the head. "Where do I hit him?"

"His antenna is his weak point," Tippi answered. Sora nodded and began hitting the antenna with rapid strikes of Keyblade, each one causing sparks to fly off and Wracktail's movements in the sky to become shakier.

"Thunder!" Sora sent a lightning bolt at Wracktail's antenna and it stopped midflight, the body short circuited by the sudden addition of electricity. It fell out of the sky hitting the ground with a crash and causing the trio to fall off and hit the ground.

"He's done for," Luigi said.

"For now," Tippi said. "We'd better get out of here in case he reboots." They jumped down into the hole Wracktail left in the ground.


	24. Chapter 24

"What are these?" Sora leaned over and picked up what looked like a piece of glass. "I thought nobody touched this place."

"I know, that over there looks like a piece of a building," Luigi said as he pointed to a piece of stone with glass windows against the wall of the place. "That over there looks like a destroyed tree."

Tippi's voice was soft when it spoke. "They're remnants…"

"Remnants? Of what?" Sora asked.

"Of the worlds the Heartless destroyed," Tippi said."That turret over there," she indicated as best as she could what looked like the top of a blue castle spire. "I use to always see it overlook my home. It was the top of the Tribe of Ancient's castle." She indicated the building Luigi had pointed to. "That building over there was once a tall skyscraper in a city known as Shibuya if my scans are correct. I don't know what this part of the world is called, nor do I care to learn its name…but it's a graveyard for the destroyed worlds."

"So parts of my island…" Sora started to look around for signs of Destiny Islands, a paopu fruit, his raft, anything to show that he had proof that they were destroyed.

"What are you looking for?" Bowser asked.

"Something from my islands," Sora said.

"Sora, if anything, you should hope to see no proof of your islands," Luigi said. "It means they're still out there."

Sora hesitated, but nodded. "Right, let's go."

They resumed their descent through the world quickly, taking note of all the destroyed structures around, a star attached to some fabric lying on the ground, pieces of metal possibly from a space ship, bricks from the remnants of castles, even an occasional egg shell and blade of grass. Tippi avoided scanning them as much as possible. Nobody wanted to hear about the lost worlds that had been taken by the Heartless until they were back.

Finally, they arrived at the exit, a small portal that lead into a black and green room with the red and black thorny heart sitting at the end of the room. A Behemoth appeared the moment they entered.

"I told you not to say anything," Sora said as it started to attack them, sending a lightning bolt their way almost instantly. The three ducked out of the way.

"Okay, fine, I won't comment about it ever again," Luigi said and they all set to work on climbing the Behemoth's back once more and attacking its horn like no tomorrow, Sora slashing at the Keyblade, Bowser breathing fire on it, and Luigi punching and throwing fireballs. With this being the third they'd fought in such a short time, it fell relatively quickly.

The heart on the wall glowed and lost a piece of it, revealing a pathway beyond it. "Come on, let's get rid of this thing." Sora ran over and began attacking it, but no more pieces fell.

"Uh…Sora…" Luigi tapped the Keybearer on the shoulder and he looked behind him. An army of the dark, round Heartless, Invisibles, and white jar like Heartless with wings had appeared behind him.

"The dark ones are Darkballs, Heartless that are physical attackers that enjoy charging and biting their opponents, the white ones are Angel Stars, Heartless that primarily attack with light and magic based attacks," Tippi scanned them relatively quickly. "And…good luck…"

With that the battle began, what had to have been about ten or twenty Heartless swarmed them. The Angel Star attacked with a ball of light that he ducked around before being hit by a Darkball's bit and an Invisible's ball of darkness. Sora jumped up and hit one Darkball, causing it to vanish, only for an Invisible's sword to hit him back. He blocked an Angel Star's attack, which caused it to rebound back into it only for his Keyblade to be met with an Invisible's sword. The Invisible disappeared just as Sora destroyed the Angel Star that attacked him. The flames surrounding him burnt him. "Heal!" He quickly cast Cure before lunging at the Invisible, swinging his Keyblade down. He effectively destroyed it and quickly attacked the two Darkballs around him, causing them to disappear into darkness.

Luigi was cornered by two Invisibles, each one lunging at him with swords. He rapidly started jumping around the area, attempting to dodge them. One disappeared in fire, the other fired balls of darkness at him. He dodged both before attacking the one still around with an undercut. He sent a fireball towards the other one as it reappeared before ducking around the first ones sword. He punched the first one one more time and it vanished. The second Invisible hit him back into a wall, which he quickly leapt off of and punched it once more, causing it to vanish.

"Take that!" Bowser roared. For him the battle seemed to be going easy. All the Heartless who met his flames were burned and destroyed in very little time. A Darkball tried to bite at him, only to be met with his claws as he tore it to shreds, causing it to disappear into a cloud of darkness. An Angel Star fired a blast of light at him which he ducked under his shell to avoid. The light blast hit the Heartless as it returned to it, destroying it and releasing a pink heart. It seemed that all of the Heartless were gone.

Another piece of the heart chipped off of the wall, revealing more of the entry to the passageway. Sora looked to it, as though expecting it to be finished, but there was still a large chunk of it left. More Angel Stars, Invisibles, and Darkballs appeared.

This was going to be a long fight.

* * *

 

"Fire! Heal!" Sora sent a fireball at another Darkball and cast a Cure on Bowser before slamming his Keyblade into the Invisible coming up to get him. He'd lost track of how many waves had come a long time ago, and it seemed like the Heartless just kept coming no matter what he did. He had stopped checking the blocked passageway a long time ago, now only caring about surviving the battle. He rolled out of the way of a Darkball's bite and hit the Keyblade into the Angel Star, destroying yet another Heartless.

Another Invisible came at him, which Luigi sent a fireball at and destroyed only for a Darkball to get him moments later. Sora cut through a final Invisible and watched as Bowser and Luigi took care of the Darkball. There was only one Heartless left in the room, an Angel Star. He sliced his Keyblade through it, causing it to release a bright pink heart.

They waited for another wave of powerful Heartless to come and attack them, but none came. Finally, Sora turned to the pathway just in time to watch the last part of the heart fall away. "We…we did it…"

"Let's get out of this room before more Heartless show up." Bowser's suggestion was one they were all happy to take as they scrambled out of the room and into a smaller one. The room only had two pathways, the one they entered, and a brown door reminiscent of the one from Sora's dream.

Just thinking of his dream made him realize how far away all of that really was, his days on the island where he'd dreamt of visiting other worlds. The dream that he had assumed was a nightmare was a warning he shouldn't have ignored, but there was nothing her could do about it now. The past was the past and just ahead was Riku. He could feel it, just like he swore there was a noise in the room. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Luigi asked.

"Don't you hear something? There!" Sora listened as a voice spoke.

" _Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to light."_

"I don't hear anything," Luigi said.

"Bowser? Timpani?" Sora asked.

"I don't hear anything besides you Sora," Tippi said.

"I hear nothing at all," Bowser answered.

"Strange…that voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination," Sora said.

"Maybe we should rest for a few minutes. It's probably exhaustion from that swarm," Luigi said.

Sora nodded and reached into his pocket. His hand closed around the golden bottle that he had gotten from Leon. He pulled it out. "I forgot I had this…"

"Sora, that's an Elixir," Tippi said. "It's the most powerful healer out there."

"Really?" Sora asked.  _I guess I do need a healer after all of those Heartless._ He drank the Elixir and instantly he felt less tired, less sore, more able to anything. He smiled. "I'm ready." Taking one last look at his friends, he got ready to enter the final battle.

Sora pushed open the door.


	25. Chapter 25

The moment he emerged, it was a familiar sight. Soft white sand, clear blue water and beautiful palm trees fluttering in the breeze. The world hadn't simply taken Sora's island in its grasps like the other worlds, it incorporated it, made it its own. "Is this…is this my island?" He ran off towards the secret place. He had to check, to find out.

" _This world has been connected."_ A portion of the islands disappeared, the paopu island he'd fought Riku on.

"What?" Luigi asked looking around.

_I've heard this before…_ It hit him. Ansem was the cloaked figure from the island that day. It wasn't by chance Destiny Islands had been destroyed anymore, Ansem had taken it.

" _Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed."_ Anything passed the bridge vanished moments later.

" _There is so much to learn."_ The water turned purple, as though poisonous.

" _You understand so little."_  The island started to shake beneath them.

" _A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."_  Before their eyes, the island completely transformed, split open from the center. It was no longer Destiny Islands, it was broken. The island no longer even touched the water anymore. Standing on the shore was Riku, or at least what looked like Riku.

They ran to the beach, Sora in the lead. They stopped just behind him, and Sora tried to call out.

Before he could speak though, Riku did. "Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom this prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to escape from his prison." It wasn't Riku, it was Ansem, once more using Riku's form. Ansem raised his arms to the air. "He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to the darkness." He turned around, shedding Riku's form to become his true one.

"Riku!" Sora reached out for his friend.

"Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so ends. The heart is no different." He said it like it was obvious. "Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came.

"You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora argued back, his face turned into one of determination. "Sometimes the heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

"So you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" And with those words a black Heartless like creature appeared on Ansem's back. Sora jumped into battle, swinging his Keyblade at Ansem, who took the hit like it was nothing. Once close, Ansem sent the strange Heartless at Sora, and it scratched at him. Luigi, who had managed to sneak beneath him, managed to launch an uppercut at Ansem before firing a fireball. "Come, Guardian." The Heartless on his back came between the fireball and Ansem. Sora tried a slash while Bowser began to claw at him, but the guardian seemed to protect him from all damage. The attacks did nothing as it sat in front of them. The moment the Heartless returned to his back, he fired a dark fireball at Sora, knocking him back. Bowser sent a massive amount of flames towards Ansem, which hit him.

"Defense!" A shield of wind surrounded Sora to protect him from damage and he ran at Ansem again. He sent another fireball at him, but this time the dark fireball bounced of the shield and away towards the water. Sora hit Ansem with his Keyblade before jumping back and throwing it at him. Ansem got close to Sora this time, hitting him with his guardian's claws. The shield did nothing to prevent the hit, however it did lessen the damage. Bowser jumped in front of Sora before the next attack came, hitting Ansem with his claws and ducking into his shell to avoid the next attack. Ansem turned and fled into the trees, much to everyone's surprise.

"I don't think he's giving up yet…" Tippi said. "After him." They did as the Pixl said and ran towards the trees. Sora and Tippi made it into the dark hollow in the center of the island, but not Luigi or Bowser.

"Bowser! Luigi!" Sora wanted to run back out, but Tippi brought his attention elsewhere.

"We have more important things to deal with." He looked up to see the Heartless monster from his dreams, the one that first destroyed the island. "That's a Darkside, a Heartless that can summon other Heartless and relies on its fists to pack a punch. It's rumored to be the darkest Heartless one can fight."

"Thanks for the warning," Sora said as the Darkside punched the ground. He rolled out of the way, a pool of darkness forming around the wrist. He began to slash at the Heartless's arm while it was buried in the ground. Suddenly, two Shadows emerged from the ground. Sora turned his attention to them, attacking them as quickly as possible and taking them out just before the Heartless punched its arm into the ground, sending out a shockwave to hit him. The shockwave knocked him back he stood up to see a ball of darkness in the Darkside's hands. It raised the ball into the air, sending small spheres of dark energy at him. He rolled to avoid the balls of energy and watched as the Darkside punched the ground again, causing a shockwave. Sora jumped over it and ran towards the Darkside attacking it. It started to send out more dark energy, this time from its chest. He raised his Keyblade, blocking the attack and returning it to the Heartless. The Darkside vanished in a cloud of darkness.

"Come out and fight me Ansem!" Sora shouted.

Ansem appeared in front of him. "If that is what you wish." His guardian grabbed at Sora and vanished, much to both Sora's and Tippi's confusion. Sora raised his Keyblade to block as Ansem charged at him, but found himself unable to move.

"What?" The guardian appeared behind Sora, preventing him from being able to avoid the attack. He was hit twice before the guardian vanished and he had a chance to avoid the next one by barely rolling out of the way in time. He ran at Ansem, only to find his movement once more restricted by the Heartless's hold. The Heartless let him go before Ansem could attack, but it was still surprising. He backed away slightly, this time avoiding Ansem so long as the Heartless seemed to possess him. When finally it appeared on Ansem's back, he swung his Keyblade, only for it to be blocked by the guardian moments later to defend him. As Ansem charged him once more, he lifted up the Keyblade, this time stopping the attack in its tracks. He swung and hit Ansem with it, causing the man to back away. Once at a far enough distance, the guardian began to fire off discs of energy, which Sora rolled to dodge before he tossed his Keyblade, once more hitting Ansem.

The guardian vanished once more, unlike before it wasn't near Sora when it vanished. A dark pool appeared beneath his feet and he rolled out of the way just in time to watch the guardian rise out of the ground and begin charging at him rapidly. He rolled in every which direction to avoid the Heartless, but even then he was battered left and right as the Heartless hit him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ansem defenseless and threw his Keyblade before rolling to avoid the guardian as it charged once more. The Keyblade hit Ansem, causing the guardian to stop its assault and return to Ansem. Now no longer under attack, Sora ran at Ansem again. Before the man could use his guardian as a shield once more for the attack, he struck, slamming the Keyblade right into the Heartless emblem emblazoned on his chest.

The world went black.

* * *

 

When Sora opened his eyes once more, he was no longer inside the distorted version of Destiny Island. The islands were gone, replaced with a black abyss. The only feature was a small sandy platform with a white door on it. He wasn't even sure how he, Luigi, and Bowser weren't standing on it. It was like they were flying. "Wha..?

"Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts! Look as hard as you are able and you not find even the smallest glimmer of light," Ansem said, no longer in their sight. "From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours."

Sora looked down and gasped, his eyes flying open wide as he looked at the large pink ship below him. Ansem's voice came from that direction. "Darkness conquers all worlds!" A portal appeared, sucking in Luigi and Bowser, and suddenly, Sora was no longer able to keep flying or even stay afloat. He began falling down in the never ending darkness.

"Sora!" Tippi shouted, but it was no use. He kept falling faster and faster, unable to stop.

" _Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that."_ And suddenly, he fought against the falling motion. He had to save Riku from Ansem, and that's what he was going to do. He started flying up, his Keyblade in hand and in fighting position. The Keyblade had changed design, no longer the familiar gold and silver key, it had become a white key with a yellow and blue tipped star at the tip of the blade. A heart connected it to two wings that made up the handle, and dangling off the edge was Kairi's lucky charm.

He flew in towards Ansem, flying around lasers that Ansem sent towards him, aiming to hit him, and the two were near each other. Sora swung his Keyblade only to be blocked by Ansem's weapon, a pole like weapon. The weapon aimed at Sora, but Sora blocked it and swung his Keyblade at Ansem, landing a hit on him. The lasers fired upon him while Ansem continued swinging his weapon, but Sora simply dodged it, before hitting Ansem in the face with his Keyblade. As if taunting him, Sora summoned a shield shaped like the Heartless heart to surround protect him like the guardian earlier, but the portal that took Luigi and Bowser inside reappeared. Sora flew in.

He was inside the large ship like Heartless Ansem had fused with, that much he was sure of. Heartless were inside, Shadows, and he set about destroying them. They were weak, and fell quickly. A glowing ball appeared, which Sora struck at and caused the room to begin to explode. He flew out quickly to avoid being hit. The moment he did, the ship's main weapon system began firing at him, oddly enough normal bullets and lasers. "Take out the weapon's system!" Tippi shouted. Sora ran in at it, dodging all the attacks before hitting each one and destroying them. Another of the portals appeared. Sora flew in.

"About time!" Bowser shouted. The room was empty of Heartless, Bowser's claws and flames having taken them out.

"Sorry," Sora said and smiled. A light flashed and suddenly yellow eyes glowed in the room. Bowser let loose more flames, revealing that the Heartless were of the Darkball variety, several of which perished in the flames. Keyblade and fire they began rapidly destroying the Heartless army inside the ship until once more a glowing ball appeared. Sora destroyed it once more with a hit of his Keyblade, causing further explosions as he and Bowser flew out of the room once more.

Before he or Tippi had a chance to locate the next target, the ship's large face opened its mouth, firing a large lightning blast at the duo. They flew out of the way before Sora nodded. The duo flew forward and began attacking the face, Bowser's claws raking across its surprisingly fleshy skin while Sora stabbing it in the eyes. It tried to fire at them once more, but before the attack could hit, Sora landed one more blow, causing the face to go limp. The two flew into the next portal.

Inside of the room it sent them in was Luigi, punching his fist into one of the Heartless, an Invisible. "Hey, help me out!"

"No problem," Sora said and with the trio attacking the lone Invisible, it fell quickly. Sora slashed at the power source as it fell like he did in the first two rooms. They flew out of the mouth just before an explosion occurred.

"Go for the main core!" Tippi shouted. They watched the force field fall and charged. Bullets fire from more guns, each one aiming for them as they started attacking, but the three were able to quickly take it out, the main core having virtually no defense against attacks beyond the disabled shield.

The shield holding Ansem in released him once more for Sora to attack. "Let's go!" Sora shouted and the three of them flew up to Ansem's level. His weapon hit the three of them, but Sora quickly retaliated with his Keyblade, slashing at Ansem. Bowser clawed at him before ducking into his shell to duck another laser attack while Luigi punched him. Sora closed his eyes and called upon the power of the Final Smash one last time, the beams of light descended down and hit Ansem, each getting progressively more powerful as they went. One more hit him, and suddenly an explosion went off as Ansem fell.

They landed on the platform by the door, the three of them and Ansem. "It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." He reached for the white door. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…"

The door began to open slowly, tendrils of darkness leaving it. "Supreme darkness…"

"You're wrong." Sora shouted. "I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts…is light!"

Moments later, a bright light flooded out the door, blasting into Ansem instantly. "Light…" He lifted his arms in defense against the blinding light, but it did no goods. "But…Why…" And suddenly light erupted from his body as he vanished, defeated at last.

They ran to the door. "Come on!" He started to push against the door, followed by Bowser and Luigi. They leaned against it, desperately trying to get it closed.

Luigi looked behind the door and jumped in surprise. "What?"

"What are you looking at anyways?" Bowser asked, but was given a surprise moments later as he saw Heartless gathering behind the door. "The Heartless!"

"We've got to hurry!" Luigi shouted.

"I can't…" Sora said, caving slightly against the door.

"Don't give up!" Hands appeared from behind the door and Sora looked up to see Riku and Count Bleck. "Come on, Sora! Together we can do it!"

"Okay!" Sora began pushing harder with Riku and Count Bleck pulling, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference, and Heartless were building up on the opposite side.

Suddenly, the Heartless were destroyed as a red clad man with a Keyblade in his hand, the Keyblade opposite of Sora's in the sense that the handle was silver and the blade gold. "Big bro!" Luigi shouted.

"Now Sora! Let'sa close this door for good," Mario said.

"Close it! Quick!" Bowser insisted with a smirk. He had to have been happy with the end results of this journey considering it was his enemy trapped on the other side of the door.

"But…"

"Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light," Mario said.

"Sora, you can trust Mario," Luigi said. Sora nodded while Blumiere looked behind himself and Riku.

"Now! They're coming!"

"Blumiere? Are you really willing to…" Tippi asked.

Count Bleck nodded. "It's my fault he fell into darkness in the first place. It's my job to help him out."

Tippi sniffled slightly, but she understood. "We'll meet again."

"Luigi…Bowser…" There was no malice in the way Mario said his enemy's name. "Thank you."

And now they were pushing against the door with all their might, it finally moved to close at a rapid pace.

"Take care of her." It was Riku, and he was smiling. Sora nodded and pushed against the door even harder. He had to make it away from here now, to honor what Riku said, to protect Kairi.

Sora jumped back the moment the door closed and a light emerged from the tip of his Keyblade, and he assumed the same was happening with Mario's as well. The door glowed brightly before disappearing, destroying anyway for the three trapped behind to get out.  _Riku…_ His best friend was trapped, away from him, but he wasn't the only one who lost somebody to the door, both Tippi and Luigi lost somebody important to them too, and he couldn't let his loss stop him  _I'll find you soon._

He turned around, and on a platform nearby, Kairi was there, her eyes looking around in confusion. He went to her, ran to her. Bowser and Luigi went to follow. "Don't," Tippi said. "He deserves this."

"Kairi!" Sora ran for her, extending his hand.

"Sora!" Kairi fell, making a cry of shock as her hand reached his.

"Kairi, remember what you said before? Well, I'm always with you too. I'll come back to you. I promise!"

"I know you will!" Their hands slipped and suddenly Sora was drifting away from Kairi. They reached out for each other trying to grab the other, but they were too far away.

A bright light fell into Kairi's hands, and suddenly light flashed behind her as the whole of Destiny Islands reemerged from the ground. Sora called out to her, still getting farther and farther away. "I promise, I'll come back for you!"

And he was gone, swept up in the light and out of her sight. A bright light where he was is all that remained. Out of that light came thousands of shooting stars that filled the sky, restoring the stars to the sky, restoring the worlds.

_Sora, your feelings have reached me, don't forget it._

* * *

 

Sometime has passed since the islands first reformed. Kairi still holds Sora within her heart as she walks into the secret place, looking at the drawings that had been on the wall. Her hand stops on one, the one of her and Sora together. Her eyes lock on the drawing of the two sharing a paopu fruit. She can imagine Sora drawing it just before the island was destroyed, smiling at her.

She nearly breaks down then. She misses him, she misses both of them, and wants them here, but she knows they'll come back, and despite the tears coming from her eyes, she smiles. Her eyes lock on the rock they used to draw and she picks it up to draw her own addition to the drawing.

When she leaves, she's now offering him the paopu back.


	26. Epilogue

Sora, Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi were walking (or flying in Tippi's case) down a dirt road in a grassy field.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Luigi asked.

"We've gotta find Riku, Blumiere, and your bro," Sora said.

"What? No way!" Bowser shouted.

"Bowser, we've got to help Sora find his friend since he helped us," Tippi said. "But you know… where is the door to the light Mario mentioned?"

They all sighed, although a different reason for Bowser. There wasn't even a lead on where the door to light would be.

"Hey, we can't let us get that down, right," Sora said. They all looked at each other. Sora was right; they had to keep searching if they were to find it.

"You're right," Luigi said. "Let's follow this road; it has to lead to the door!"

"That's an excellent way to look at it," Tippi said. "There's nothing stopping us, we'll just look until we find it."

"Guys, let's go." He waved his hand forward and started running down the road, the others followed and he smiled.  _Don't worry Riku, I'll find you._

" _Remember, Sora. You are the one who will open the door to the light."_


	27. Secret Ending

_-Another Side, Another Story-_

_[Deep Dive]_

A boy stands at crossroads on the path ahead, oblivious to the future he will face.

_Utter silence_

A bottle on a beach shore, brought in by the waves.

_A fragmented tale_

_A world without you_

_The eyes will close_

Two cloaked figures meet on a dark beach.

_Something so natural_

A hooded figure walks along an empty street in the pouring rain.

_The memory beyond_

Neoshadows emerge from the ground, the hooded figure looks in surprise and begins slashing through the Heartless with two Keyblades, a white one and a black one. Each hit takes down another Heartless like it's nothing. He looks up.

_Something so simple_

On top of a skyscraper is a boy in a black cloak with silver hair. His eyes are covered by a blindfold. The hooded figure runs up, the hooded figure slashing through Heartless.

_XIII_   
_"Where's Sora?"_  
"We must find him."

As the hooded figure runs up the skyscraper, the blindfolded one jumps down. The hooded figure tosses the black Keyblade, the boy catches it.

_12_ _  
_[Ansem's Other Report] "A creation born of ignorance."_ _

The screen on the skyscraper flashes an image, showing Sora's final moments with Kairi.

_11_ _  
_Behind the door =/= Door to the Light_ _

The two met each other at the same height in route.

_X_   
_The secret place_  
_"His voice… It's left me."_  
"This time… I'll fight."

The two share a glance.

_9_   
_A world between=a forgotten world_  
The gathering

_VIII_   
_The third enemy=NOBODY_  
"Who is Nobody, you ask? They are the nonexistent ones."

_VII_   
_Endless_  
_"What took you so long Kairi?"_  
"Can we do it? Against that?"

More memories flash on the screen, all of Sora, Riku and Kairi. Suddenly a memory of two cloaked figures appears.

_HEARTLESS_   
_"We have come for you my liege."_  
"You are the source of all the Heartless."

_6_   
_[The Thirteenth Order]_  
_ID_  
_Metamorphosis_  
_"Sora?"_  
_"Sora…why?"_  
"Your Highness! But why?"

_5_   
_Change_  
The third key

_4_   
_End of the world_  
_"What is this place!?"_  
_"Is this the answer you've been looking for?"_  
_"This is the world in its true form."_  
"Maybe our journey meant nothing after all."

_3_   
_Paradise_  
"We'll go together."

_II_

Mario jumps off a roof, holding the Keyblade.

_GAMING HEARTS_

On the beach, one cloaked figure walks up the other, who is sitting on a rock.

" _I went to see him."_

The sitting one looks at the standing one.

" _He looks just like you."_

Sora's body flies over the ocean at a quick pace, his eyes are closed.

" _Everything is coming back to me, the true…"_


	28. Bonus: Animal Crossing

_Why did I believe Merlon?_ Sora couldn't help but ask himself that as he found himself falling rapidly into the small town. He landed inside of some kind of train station. When he walked out he found a yellow dog.

"The new mayor! He's here!" The dog cheered. Sora looked at her in confusion. "I'm Isabelle. I'll be your secretary."

"Uh-"

"Oh, don't worry, you'll be fine!" Isabelle said. "You never told me your name."

"I'm Sora," he said and looked around. "Hey, where are the other town residents?"

"They all left," Isabelle said. "When the last mayor moved away, she took a lot of the residents with her. It's just me, a few shopkeepers, and a couple of others."

"Can I meet them?" Sora asked.

Isabelle smiled. "Of course, follow me." She led him up a stone path to a small dirt road where several shops were open. "Feel free to enjoy the main street. I'll be at Town Hall if you need anything." She handed him a map and pointed at a building in the upper right corner before leaving him. Unsure of what to do, he entered into the first shop. The store appeared like the towns general store, selling medicine, nets, rods, and shovels, paper, and strangely enough, furniture and carpets. Two raccoons were running the store.

"Hello," the first said. "Welcome to TnT Mart. I'm Tommy, and this is my brother Timmy. Would you like to buy something?"

"Something?" Tommy's brother, Timmy, repeated the last word Tommy said.

"Right…" Sora said. "I guess I'm just looking around for now."

"Alright, take your time," Tommy said. The store was relatively small and it wasn't long before Sora had looked over everything it had.

After a few moments of decision, Sora picked up the shovel. "How much is it?"

"That shovel is 500 bells."

_Bells?_  That was a foreign currency, everywhere he'd been so far had operated on Munny. He reached into his pocket only to find a small bag of golden coins next to his Munny pouch. On the bag was a note that Sora chose to ignore. Smiling at his good fortune, he handed the raccoon five of the coins.

"Thank you," Tommy said and Sora left the shop, shovel in hand.

He walked over to the museum, where a brown owl sat asleep in the center of the lobby. "Excuse me, uh…" he tapped the owl on the shoulder.

"Hoo…" the owl bolted awake. "Dreadfully sorry. Anyhow, welcome to the Hikari Town Museum. I'm Blathers, the curator, is there anything I can help with?"

"I'm Sora, I was wondering what this place was like."

"This museum is run primarily due to donations from the citizens," Blathers said. "Our old mayor spent many hours trying to help us complete our collection, but she missed a couple of fossils."

"Fossils?" Sora asked.

"Of course. You can use your shovel to dig around town and find fossils of all kinds."

"Thanks Blathers," Sora said. He now had a task in mind as he left museum and returned to the town itself. He pulled out the map for guidance. No fossil digging area was listed.

" _I'll be at the town hall if you need anything."_  Perhaps Isabelle could help. Sora, following the map, found his way to the town hall where Isabelle resided.

"Sora! It's good to see you! I hope you've found the residents nice so far," Isabelle said. "Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, Blathers said that the old mayor used to go and spend time gathering donations, I wanted to finish off her work, but don't know where to look for fossils."

"Oh, of course, follow me," Isabelle said. She led him outside, but he noticed a sadness lingering around the poor puppy as she left.

"What was the old mayor like?" Sora asked.

Isabelle seemed surprised. "She was the sweetest person ever. When we first found her it turned out she wasn't supposed to be a mayor, she was just a little kid. She never complained though, and in addition to paying off her home in full, she spent years catching every fish and bug, collecting every painting, finding every fossil. She would take money out of her savings for her debt to go towards public work projects and beautifying the town."

"Sounds like somebody dedicated. Why did she leave?" he asked.

"I don't know. One day she just stopped showing up at town hall. The first couple of days I just thought she was sick, but as the days wore on, we all got worried. I came to her home with some medicine and it was empty. The town starting dying when she left and most of the residents moved out." She was about to say more when she pointed to a roped off area of dirt. "This was where fossil excavations occur. I hope you find the fossils you're looking for."

"Thanks," Sora said and waved as Isabelle walked off. He began digging in the dirt using the shovel, and it wasn't long before he had several fossils. Putting them in a bag, he returned to the museum.

Upon entrance, he was unsurprised to see that Blathers was asleep once more. He once more woke the owl up and handed him the bones.

"Hoo?" Blathers looked them over. "Let's see, yes, these are exactly what I needed. Thank you, I will forever be in your debt."

"It was no problem, I was just happy to help," Sora said. He waved goodbye to Blathers who went to put the fossils up for display and went to another store in the area.

"Hi, welcome to the Able Sisters." Three porcupines ran the clothing store, two brown and one blue. The blue one is the one that greeted him. "Is there anything we can get you?"

"I'm just looking," Sora said and walked over to the manikins at the center of the store. While most of the designs were boring, one stood out. It was black with a crown on it. "Who made this?"

"Our old mayor did, she wasn't the best designer, but she had fun with it," the blue porcupine said. "If you'd like, you can make a design too. She handed him the sewing kit."

"Thanks," Sora said.

* * *

 

A half an hour later, Sora had rather poorly made a paopu fruit shirt, but the porcupine seemed to love it, putting it on display almost immediately.

"Thank you for letting me make that."

"It was our pleasure, come back any time." The porcupine waved as he left. With not a lot left to do, Sora decided to check out the last building in town, a building that looked like a mansion.

Upon entering, Sora noticed what looked like a traveler's collection. Items that he would associate with Luigi, Bowser, and Peach, a Triforce from Hyrule, and even a replica of Samus's helmet at on tables and were thrown on the floor. The upstairs was an icy room as though somewhat had permanently frozen it. The basement held furniture made out of shells. The other rooms too, were decorated differently, one looking like that of royalty, another like it was made of deserts. He made his way back to the traveler's room, the main room.

"This was her house." Isabelle had to have entered while he was exploring. "She had so much fun collecting everything you know."

"Why did she leave though?" Sora asked.

"If I knew where she went or why, I wouldn't have asked you to fill in for mayor," Isabelle said. "I know you're not really even close to our mayor, but I was hoping that you could help out the town a bit."

"I tried," Sora said with a smile.

"Thank you," Isabelle said. "Now come on, you-" she was interrupted as a bright light emerged from the center of the back wall, revealing the Keyhole. Sora's Keyblade aimed and with a click, it vanished, and out tumbled a girl with light pink hair.

"Ugh…Isabelle?" the girl asked. She blinked twice. "What are you and a boy doing here?"

"Mayor Belle!" Isabelle said. "This is Sora, he's-"

"I came here to seal the Keyhole and help find you," Sora said.

"Thank you for finding me then," Belle said. "What's the damage? How long have I been gone?"

"Two months ma'am," Isabelle said. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

"Nah, it can wait until tomorrow," Belle said. "Now both of you out of my home." She forced the yellow dog and boy to leave.

"Thank you," Isabelle said.

"No problem, although I wonder how she got stuck in the Keyhole," Sora said.

"Perhaps she went in to protect it and couldn't leave until you did your key thingy," Isabelle said. "I'll see you around sometime, right?"

"You bet," Sora said. A light flashed, and he'd left the world behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who read this far, thank you so much. This was an old work of mine I posted to ffn back in 2014, but got lazy about porting. It was my first ever completed fanfiction, and my only full length completed fic to date. And I'm still kinda proud of it, even if I've grown as a writer since then.


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